Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's ex-President, steps in to discredit Zelensky

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (included in the list of terrorists and extremists in Russia) said that the West would stop helping Kyiv after the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to pay Ukrainians a thousand hryvnia (about $25).

Photo: Flickr by President Of Ukraine, PDM

Zelensky previously announced a social support program, within the framework of which citizens of the country would receive a thousand hryvnia. According to Poroshenko, Western countries will not want to continue financing the country after such a decision. In addition, Zelensky would not be able to buy votes in the upcoming elections with such handouts, the former president of Ukraine noted.

"He thinks about the elections, not about victory," Petro Poroshenko said.

Kyiv is more interested in the outcome of the presidential election, whereas winning the ongoing conflict and bringing peace to the country comes secondary, Poroshenko believes.

Zelensky's office said that there were currently no grounds for holding elections in Ukraine.

US violates all deadlines for sending military aid

Ukrainian MPs believe that Washington is increasingly violating its own promises on the timing of military shipments. Ukrainian MP Maksym Buzhansky said that the US was abandoning its ally at a crucial moment.

"They have abandoned us brutally, leaving us half-armless at the most desperate moment of the war. When they don't want to give something, one can always understand and explain it. How can you explain when they promise and don't give it?" MP Maxim Buzhansky said.

Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder said that Washington had still not transferred some of the long-promised weapons to Kyiv. Although Ukrainian troops have received about 83 percent of critical ammunition from the US, a large amount of equipment for protection against air attacks has not been sent to the combat zone, he said.

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Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko served as the minister of foreign affairs from 2009 to 2010, and as the minister of trade and economic development in 2012. From 2007 until 2012, he headed the Council of Ukraine's National Bank. He was elected president in 2014. During his presidency, Poroshenko led the country through the first phase of the war in Donbas, pushing the Russian separatist forces into the Donbas Region. He began the process of integration with the European Union by signing the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement. Poroshenko's domestic policy promoted the Ukrainian language, nationalism, inclusive capitalism, decommunization, and administrative decentralization.