India is the world’s most populous country, the Voice of the Global South, and a major power that’s pivotal to the global balance between all key players so getting on its bad side like Zelensky just did will capsize Ukraine’s plans to generate wider support for its cause.

Zelensky insulted Indian Prime Minister Modi during his trip to Moscow last week by tweeting that “It is disheartening to see the leader of the world's largest democracy embrace the world's most notorious criminal in Moscow”, thus prompting India to summon the Ukrainian Ambassador on Monday. It’s unclear what he was told, but his hosts predictably made it clear that such rhetoric isn’t welcome, especially after Modi lamented the loss of life in all conflicts during his meeting with Putin.

While some might imagine that Zelensky simply tweeted whatever his Western patrons told him to, the reality is that he probably did so on his own prerogative, though therein lies th...