Former Ukrainian president says he asked Zelenskyy for favour only once
Pravda Ukraine
Petro Poroshenko, the fifth President of Ukraine, MP and leader of the European Solidarity party, said that since Volodymyr Zelenskyy became president, he had only three meetings with him, and only one of them was face-to-face.
Source: Poroshenko in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda (English translation coming soon)
Quote from Petro Poroshenko: “The first [meeting] was during the inauguration. The second was when Zelenskyy invited me to his office on Bankova Street to ask me to vote for the ‘anti-Kolomoiskyi bill’.
The third was on the first day [of the full-scale war – ed.]. The conversation was very short, very calm. I will repeat it again for accuracy. I said: ‘Point number one: I am no longer the leader of the opposition. You didn’t say that, I did. Point number two: you are not my opponent from this moment on. You didn’t say that, I did. We have the same enemy: for me, it is not Zelenskyy, and for you, it is not Poroshenko. Our common enemy is Putin.’ ‘I am very grateful to you for what I have just heard,’ Zelenskyy said.”
Details: Poroshenko said that only during their third meeting did he ask the current president for a return favour – to provide 8,000 assault rifles for the defence of Kyiv and Zelenskyy helped him with this.
Background:
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had approved a decision made by Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council on 12 February to impose sanctions against businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi; billionaire Kostiantyn Zhevago; Hennadii Boholiubov, former co-owner of PrivatBank; Petro Poroshenko, the fifth president of Ukraine and a European Solidarity party MP; and Viktor Medvedchuk, a former MP from the banned pro-Russian Opposition Platform – For Life party, who is also accused of treason.
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy later said that these sanctions were aimed at people who had been “laundering” money and “withdrawing billions of hryvnias” during the war since 2014. He also added that if the funds were returned to the Ukrainian budget, the sanctions would be lifted.
- Petro Poroshenko’s lawyers plan to appeal the decision to impose sanctions against him in court.
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