Last week we witnessed one of the most extraordinary news conferences in history.

With his country fighting for its very survival, a 40-mile-long Russian convoy on his doorstep, and he himself considered to be Target No. 1 by the invaders, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the media together to an undisclosed bunker location somewhere in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian leader’s courage has many in the free world calling him “Churchill in a T-shirt,” a reference to the British prime minister’s defiance against Nazi Germany in World War II.

Grimly determined and extremely focused, Zelenskyy has a dire warning for democracies in the global community should Ukraine fall to the Russians.

“This is not just Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” he said in an earlier address. “This is the beginning of a war against Europe, against European structures, against democracy, against basic human rights, against a global order of law, rules and peaceful coexistence.”

When asked by a reporter about his communications with President Biden and if the U.S. had waited too long to give Ukraine support, Zelenskyy said it’s a pity it began after the war began, but that the “whole world is late with Ukraine.”

Just days after the Russians began their push into Ukraine, Zelenskyy created “The International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine” to help bolster the fight.

“Anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world can come and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals,” the statement on the presidential website said.

Ukrainian officials said that they’re looking for volunteers with combat experience who would require little training. To join the newly formed International Legion, volunteers must have “documents confirming military service or work with law enforcement agencies and participation in combat.”

Almost immediately, Ukraine received 32,000 requests to join the fight, and Military Times reported that more than 3,000 came from U.S. citizens.

After the first week of the war, the White House discouraged Americans from traveling to Ukraine. When one reporter asked if that was advice to Americans to not go and fight in another nation, deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answered that U.S. forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO allies in the event that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin decides to keep moving west.

As of last week, an estimated 20,000 Americans were still in Ukraine.

Project Dynamo, a Florida-based a crisis rescue operation made up of current and former U.S. military members, is now helping evacuate those trapped inside the country. Co-founder Brian Stern, a U.S. Army and Navy veteran who earned a Purple Heart after several tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, knew at the outset that if he assembled the right people together they could make an impact.

During their first operation, the group rescued at least six busloads of Americans by making a treacherous 18-hour trek from Kyiv to the Romanian border.

Frustrated by the administration’s lack of action, Brett Velicovich, a former U.S. Army intelligence and special operations soldier, traveled to Ukraine to help. A drone expert, Velicovich feels that ordinary citizens are doing the job that the U.S. government should be doing.

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, realizes that delays by allied nations to supply his outgunned army only spell disaster for his nation.

During last week’s remarkable news conference, one reporter asked the Ukraine leader if he was afraid of dying in the war.

“I’m an alive person, like any human being,” he said. “And if a person is not afraid of losing his life, or the lives of his children, there is something unwell about that person.”

As for fearing the future, Zelenskyy said that as president, he does not have the right to be afraid.

With so many Ukrainians now suffering and their nation facing an uncertain future, it’s easy to panic.

But the people continue to draw strength through their faith … and from a strong leader who has chosen to stand up to the Russian Goliath, just as Churchill did against Adolf Hitler’s blitzkrieg army eight decades ago.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.