Zelensky himself is putting the west before his own country. There's been a few suggestions for what Ukraine could do to help their situation.
One was to cut off Russian gas and oil transitting to Europe. That would take the decision out of Europe's hands and really damage Russia's economy, putting the Russian operation on a timer rather than the casual approach they've been taking. Instead you've got a farcical situation where Russians and Ukrainians are killing each other on the battlefield yet Russia is paying Ukraine transit fees to prop up its economy, and Russia is making more money than before the war thanks to the higher prices.
The second would be to attack the 1,500 Russian garrison in Transnistria. By leaving them isolated Putin is taking a big risk. 5,000 or so Ukrainian troops could overwhelm the Transnistrian garrison and they'd either be in a Mariupol type situation, or they'd be forced to push forces across Nikolaev and Odessa to relieve them. Again, I think the west pressured Zelensky not to do that, as they are worried Putin would use it as an excuse to invade Moldova and potentially turning it into a much bigger conflict.
It's generally a good idea to do things your enemy don't want you to do. Instead Ukrainian defence has been static and reactionary. Zelensky is happy with fake victories on twitter while his censoring any negative news.
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