Former Ukrainian President Poroshenko Calls for Diplomatic Reset with U.S.

Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko called on Thursday for Washington to take on a slower approach regarding their diplomacy after the argument between Kyiv and Washington. He also suggested he was prepared to travel to other capitals if it would serve to enhance the country’s image in the world.

Poroshenko served as the president from 2014 to 2019 and is now an opposition leader in Parliament. He is still a political rival of the current President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who won the elections in 2019 with overwhelming majority of votes.

He stated that Zelenskyy must stop “stadium behavior” when engaging with Donald Trump, who referred to the current Ukrainian leader as a “dictator without elections” for failing to relinquish power to conduct a wartime election.

“He described as ‘combat’ this approach towards Trump and said, ‘This type of fighting demonstrates eloquence but does not, in fact, work for Ukraine’s advantage.”

As he was delivering these comments, Poroshenko stood in front of a row of military vehicles and said, “What’s painfully clear is that Ukraine needs to fight away from the street.”

His words regarding parliamentarians were that, “I believe they would be supportive of diplomacy.”

“I am ready to go to Brussels or even Washington in an effort to save the situation,” he said. “And there need to be other experts and representatives in authority in the society in question.” As Thodassen noted, the authorities worked hard in trying to block the exodus of some opposition parliamentarians whose sole purpose was to improve Ukrainian diplomacy. Poroshenko publically provided no justification for the suspension of an election, explaining that, “while there is no peace,” it is not achievable. He made yet another appeal regarding the need for a national unity coalition government and an end to the, “monopoly,” of the presidential office and political party in the country. In Kyiv on Thursday, Zelenskiy told on Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy on Ukraine and Russia that Ukraine is prepared to mobilize its resources in order to develop a robust and beneficial security and investment agreement with the United States. 

Zelenskiy’s comments towards Trump came in the context of the first direct exchange between American and Russian officials on the resolution of the war that has been going on for almost three years without the participation of Ukraine, when Zelensky's refusal of aid from the US to develop Ukraine's mineral resources was eyepopping. Last week, Ukraine’s Poroshenko faced international sanctions including an asset freeze and a country-wide capital outflow ban, all on the guise of national security.

He has been investigated with regard to multiple claims, notably supporting the Russian backed separatists who captured large sections of Eastern Ukraine in 2014, and a scandal involving fraudulent activities related to military procurement.

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