On the first day of Russia's full invasion, Ukrainian President Voldimi Zelensky and his main political opponents at home shook hands and abandoned their ferocious rivalry in order to concentrate on the enemy. The country's typical loud politics were largely dormant for the next three years.
Now, as peace negotiations led by the Trump administration have sparked the prospects of a ceasefire and final election, the political jockey has returned.
Ukrainian politicians pilot it at home and reach behind the scenes of the Trump administration. The Trump administration has not kept a secret of the silly secrets to Zelensky despite the lionization on the world stage to stand up to Russia.
Former Ukrainian president and leader of rival parties, Petro O. Poroshenko says the best way to smooth out peace talks is to bring opposition to the government.
Poroshenko had previously thought of overhauling Ukrainian politics to form a national unified government that would benefit his party. He revived the proposal after Zelensky's controversial oval office meeting with President Trump in February and the Republican senator called for him to step down.
Zelensky has not expressed interest in forming a coalition of ministers, including opposition figures. Instead, his government is putting pressure on opponents through law enforcement and security agencies.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Zelensky mistreated martial law authority to overturn the city council. In January, Ukraine's National Security Council frozen Poroshenko's bank account, leveling out certain accusations.
“There is no other option other than a national unity coalition, a national unity government,” Poroshenko said in an interview Wednesday. “We should unite in Parliament and demonstrate unity in the country, and the outcome of this decision should be a halt of war.”
Zelensky's five-year term was extended under martial law after it expired last year. As long as Ukraine continues to war, elections are legally prohibited under martial law and are unrealistic.
Almost a month ago, Ukraine offered a month-long unconditional ceasefire that Russia had not accepted. Trump administration envoy Steve Witkov traveled to Russia on Friday, possibly to rekindle negotiations.
Poroshenko said talks could be boosted if Zelensky allows political opponents to enter the government given Trump's “an election dictator.” It reflected criticism by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.
Poroshenko said he opposed Trump's reputation as Zelensky as a dictator.
However, the ceasefire and the prospect of an election made Poroshenko more openly criticize the president. The sanctions imposed by the National Security Council on Poroshenko have freed his bank account and allowed him to remove him from future elections.
Poroshenko called the sanctions against him “disastrous, unconstitutional and extrajudicial.” If he was arrested, he would say Ukraine is on the road to dictatorship.
The fierce rivalry between the two Ukrainian leaders dates back several years ago. Poroshenko led Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. After Zelensky defeated him vigorously, the new government questioned Poroshenko as an eyewitness to the gust of wind in a criminal case that Poroshenko was politically motivated.
Even if tanks became massive at the border before Russia's invasion in 2022, the interior continued in Ukraine. The prosecutors sought a warrant for Poroshenko, despite being denied by a judge.
Poroshenko has a base of support for Ukrainian nationalist politics, particularly in western and central Ukraine, and during the 2019 race, Zelensky gained widespread support across the country, including Russian speakers in central and eastern Ukraine.
The two men met on the morning of February 24, 2022, when Russia began an onslaught, putting their rivalry aside. Zelensky asked what he could do for Poroshenko. The former president called on 5,000 Kalashnikovs to arm their supporters against the Russians, and Zelensky said he had provided guns.
Poroshenko, 59, is unlikely to win the presidential election, polls show. He was consistently in third or higher, behind Mr Zelensky and former Army commander General Valerie Zaljuny.
Poroshenko, the British ambassador, may be fishing for an election alliance with General Zarznyu, a very popular Ukraine popular, political analysts say. He is mostly silent about politics.
In an interview, Poroshenko said he met Zalzny of London, but he refused to reveal details of their speech. Poroshenko's aide said he had accepted a signed copy of the general's biography, “Iron General.”
As Zelensky negotiated with the Trump administration, Poroshenko provided advice through an intermediary, he said.
“Trump can ask unexpected questions, I can even say rude,” Poroshenko said.
At the Trump administration's first meeting, Poroshenko said he asked if Trump could get an honest answer to his questions. Poroshenko said yes. Trump then approached and asked, “Tell me, are you Crimean Russian?”
Poroshenko replied that Crimea, a peninsula seized by Russia in 2014, was Ukrainian and asked what prompted him to ask questions. Trump then said that a Russian friend told him that the peninsula should be Russian, Poroshenko said.
Poroshenko pursued a foreign policy of dealing with the US, which was partially rewarded. That included the purchase of coal from Pennsylvania, where Ukraine had a wealth of its own coal, but maintained some work in its swing state.
Before Trump's first term ended, the administration provided a formal statement known as the Crimean Declaration, which argued as a matter of US policy that Crimea is Ukrainian.
“He's not easy,” Poroshenko said of Trump. “But now is diplomacy.”
