Zelensky shows me that charismatic leaders can, indeed, spring forth to defend a nation.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/king-arthur-real-person-180980466/

At a time when most Britons were struggling to find cooking utensils,
Tintagel’s inhabitants were using crucibles to forge metal, inscribing
slabs with Celtic writing, and controlling agricultural production
across substantial territory. The settlement would have been well
defended against the marauding bands that plagued the mainland: Geoffrey
of Monmouth noted that just a handful of warriors positioned at the
narrow neck could have staved off an army. It is not difficult to
envision a charismatic leader rising here to defend northern Cornwall
from Saxon invaders, says Scutt, or to imagine that his feats would
enter sixth-century folklore and be passed down by storytellers to
Geoffrey and other chroniclers. “We know this was a center of power,” he
says. “But whose power was it? It’s always going to remain a mystery.”