Ukraine general discussion

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My analysis for Zelensky's record

The situation in Ukraine now leaves much to be desired. Perhaps my presentation is a bit subjective.

It's been 9 months since Zelensky is the President of Ukraine. The lives of ordinary Ukrainians have not only don't improved but also got worse. In late autumn, the dollar fell, causing a devastating blow to many entrepreneurs, especially farmers. Now Zelensky's team says it is necessary to artificially upgrade the course to promote economic growth.

Utility tariffs have increased throughout Ukraine. Water rose by 20-40% depending on the region, electricity by 10-30%, gas by 5-10%. Pensions and wages have remained the same. Older people in villages with pensions of $ 60-80 simply do not have enough money to pay for utilities. The villages that kept up with Poroshenko's last efforts are now finally falling apart. I am scared when I go through Ukrainian villages. Houses that have been overgrown with shrubs, factories have been torn down. This is a very bad picture. Of course, most villages are still around, but in 10-20 years some will simply disappear from the map of Ukraine.

The first thing Zelensky's team did was privatize almost all state-owned enterprises, including the defense and medical sectors. This is something that I cannot completely agree with, it is the main reason why I do not support Zelensky. It will be privatized Ukr Post, Ukr Railway, Ukr Alcohol, as well as all airports. Absolutely wrong move.

The bill on the legalization of gambling, medical marijuana and prostitution will soon be adopted. It's also something that I don't support.

The Land Market Bill
It will be approved shortly. I am against the land market in general, but if there is no way out there should be another bill. This bill has many flaws, and any amendments created by the opposition aimed at improvement are rejected by the Servant of the People. Agrarians protest under the Verkhovna Rada, write numerous petitions to Zelensky, but he stands on his own. Polls show that 65-75% of Ukrainian citizens are categorically against the land market, while 20-25% support, others are undecided. Unless rigid antitrust measures are taken (very likely), all agricultural land will be divided among several oligarchs, Ukrainians and foreigners, including.

Initially, the Zelensky's team united all the ministries that could. This is how the Ministry of the Environment and Energy was created; Ministry of Culture and Sports, Youth; and my favorite: the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Agriculture. Now they say it is wrong and need to be separated, but it requires a lot of public money.

The process of rapprochement with Russia is now beginning. The main thesis of today: "Peace at any cost." Today after shelling in Donbass, when 1 our soldier was killed and 3 were wounded, the Ukrainian military was ordered not to shoot back.
Some of the words of Zelensky's team and himself:

Education Minister Novosad: "I cannot have a baby because I will not have enough of my $ 1500 salary to support my child" (average salary in Ukraine is $ 300)

MP Bragar (SOTP): "Sell your dog and pay for utilities" (to a retired woman who called the studio for the channel)

Bogutska MP (SOTP): "This old man from the last century did not deserve to retire"

Economy Minister Milovanov: "Economy has slowly decelerated due to warm weather"

"I'm a moron, I don't hide it"

PM Goncharuk: "I am a complete profane in the economy"

President Zelensky: "I express my condolences to the fallen soldier"

"I'm not a sucker, I'm 42 years old"

"What is the difference between Ukrainian or Russian [language]"


Here is an short analysis. Anyone who is interested, ask, I will gladly answer

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What does the political situation look like now in Ukraine; can you give us a rundown on what the major figures and organizations are up too? How is the situation more specifically in the Far Right and Left camps; are the militias still trying to assert themselves into Ukrainian politics?

I’m utterly depressed, but even I should have known, that SOTP would have gutted everything and tore out the foundations of the Ukrainian state. Andriy, expect a lot of crime and destitution from downtrodden domestic migrants from the villages.

As far as political parties are concerned, the far right is almost dead in Ukraine right now. Svoboda (Freedom) is the only far-right political party still known. Svoboda has 2 deputies in the Verkhovna Rada. In fact, this party is not popular or competitive. Other far-right parties are completely unknown and do not take an active part in the political life of the country.

There are basically no left-wing political parties in Ukraine. Communist ideology is forbidden to us, and there are no socialist parties yet. Traditionally economically left parties include the Radical Party and the Fatherland. Regarding Lyashko's activity, after he did not pass to the Parliament, he actively participates in various television programs criticizing Zelensky's activities.

The last presidential election was almost the end of his career for Yulia Tymoshenko. I have no doubt that she will run again in 2024, but she will never become President of Ukraine. Now all her activities are concentrated in Parliament, where she is strenuously fighting to prevent the land market law from being passed. Tymoshenko alone blocked the presidium recently.

Poroshenko works in the Verkhovna Rada in parallel, holding numerous international meetings at various levels. In fact, he continues to represent Ukraine in the international arena.

Militias, if you mean DNR / LNR fighters will establish themselves in Ukrainian politics after Zelensky's team holds elections in Donbass in the autumn. This is now one of their priority goals. I have doubts about the desire of the militias to become part of the Ukrainian political party. In my opinion they are satisfied with everything now.

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Is Yulia Timoshenko still politically relevant at all? (Also your thoughts on her)

Is Zelensky still sufficiently anti-Russia if still an obvious incompetent?

Tymoshenko still has significant political influence. I think when the Servant of the People will lose support, Fatherland will take a few points. Unfortunately, Yulia Volodymyrivna has almost no chance of becoming President of Ukraine ever. In 2024, she will run for office, but will take 3rd or 4th place in 1 round. Her program is now taking care of almost only one issue - the land market. She will do her best to prevent the land market from happening.

I think Tymoshenko would be a great President. She could put things in order in Ukraine. Her experience and literacy allow me to believe her.

I would not say that Zelensky is clearly anti-Russian. He congratulated Putin on the New Year, which President Poroshenko never did. Zelensky said that when meeting with Putin, he saw a desire for peace in the eyes of the President of Russia. The team of Zelensky (deputies from SOTP) have some people who openly state that Ukraine is not a sovereign state, and Crimea is historically Russian territory. "Peace at any cost" is Zelensky's main thesis; he will make great concessions to Russia for the sake of peace. Although, today after the deployment of troops in the east, the Russian forces seized 4 strongholds

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Oh god

I mean it wasn't hard to predict that a comedian with no political experience would be an incompetent moron. But....yikes.

Any chance of Arseniy Yatsenyuk returning to prominence?


Also opinion of these videos


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX2-yBdUSuU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWFjMlDaNkc

Chances are that Yatsenyuk will return to big politics are minimal. He is extremely unpopular in Ukraine and no one will vote for him. He really is not the best, but not the worst Prime Minister of Ukraine in history. After his resignation in April 2016, Yatsenyuk disappeared. In all this time I saw him only 1 time before last year's parliamentary elections on one of the unknown TV channels

Personally, I want to see Volodymyr Groysman as Prime Minister. He is an outstanding leader. At first he was the mayor of Vinnytsia, the city where I live. When he only became mayor, the city was in decline, it was one of the poorest and dirtiest cities in Ukraine, with lots of garbage on the streets, spontaneous markets, and abandoned factories and homes. In just 2-3 years he was able to put things in order here. And since 2013, Vinnytsia has been recognized as the most comfortable city in Ukraine for life. He rebuilt the infrastructure, greened the city, and trashed the garbage problem.

When Groysman was Prime Minister, he did everything he could to help the well-being of the people. It has lifted the economy, substantially inflated inflation and raised social payments to the bare minimum. He fought with Poroshenko to lower utility tariffs for people.

I am neutral in these videos. I almost always like political parodies. These are, however, a bit outdated.

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The Land Market Bill
It will be approved shortly. I am against the land market in general, but if there is no way out there should be another bill. This bill has many flaws, and any amendments created by the opposition aimed at improvement are rejected by the Servant of the People. Agrarians protest under the Verkhovna Rada, write numerous petitions to Zelensky, but he stands on his own. Polls show that 65-75% of Ukrainian citizens are categorically against the land market, while 20-25% support, others are undecided. Unless rigid antitrust measures are taken (very likely), all agricultural land will be divided among several oligarchs, Ukrainians and foreigners, including.

Things are somewhat more complicated with this bill. It is very unpopular with population, but land market is popular between liberals - and government is full of those, and it was one of IMF's demands. So proposed bill was twisted by "Servant of the People" - now it still would prohibit foreign land ownershipping and buying more than 50 000 hectares by one person. First point may angered IMF.





Overall I would say situation hasn't changed much since 2018-2019. Economy is still in bad shape, but not on 2015-2016 level. Party ratings are pretty stable after 2019 parliamentarian election, Zelenskiy is still hugely popular (but ratings of other "Servant of the People" politicians have worsened significantly).  In the end Zelenskiy will lose his popularity, but I'm curious to whom? Vakarchuk and his party isn't very popular outside from western part of country and it seems like Slava himself isn't that much into politics. Poroshenko still is the most unpopular man in the country, but he has core of loyal supporters and some friendly press. Timoshenko and Pro-russian camp are trying to play economic populist cards, but their ceilings are probably pretty low, maybe 20% for Yulia and 30% for former Regionals?

Yes, indeed, the land market bill has some limitations. One person will be able to buy only 10,000 hectares of land and sale to foreigners is forbidden so far. But even if a person takes out a loan and is unable to pay it, the bank seizes the land and sells it at auction, including to foreigners. Recently, several edits have been failed to prevent this. By the way, the Kolomoysky group in "Srevant of the People" in the Verkhovna Rada does not support this bill

For me, too, the mystery of who will support Zelensky's supporters after disappointment in him. Probably, most will go to the Fatherland and the Opposition Platform. But I don't know what to expect.

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Oh god

I mean it wasn't hard to predict that a comedian with no political experience would be an incompetent moron. But....yikes.

Any chance of Arseniy Yatsenyuk returning to prominence?


Also opinion of these videos


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX2-yBdUSuU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWFjMlDaNkc

Chances are that Yatsenyuk will return to big politics are minimal. He is extremely unpopular in Ukraine and no one will vote for him. He really is not the best, but not the worst Prime Minister of Ukraine in history. After his resignation in April 2016, Yatsenyuk disappeared. In all this time I saw him only 1 time before last year's parliamentary elections on one of the unknown TV channels

Personally, I want to see Volodymyr Groysman as Prime Minister. He is an outstanding leader. At first he was the mayor of Vinnytsia, the city where I live. When he only became mayor, the city was in decline, it was one of the poorest and dirtiest cities in Ukraine, with lots of garbage on the streets, spontaneous markets, and abandoned factories and homes. In just 2-3 years he was able to put things in order here. And since 2013, Vinnytsia has been recognized as the most comfortable city in Ukraine for life. He rebuilt the infrastructure, greened the city, and trashed the garbage problem.

When Groysman was Prime Minister, he did everything he could to help the well-being of the people. It has lifted the economy, substantially inflated inflation and raised social payments to the bare minimum. He fought with Poroshenko to lower utility tariffs for people.

I am neutral in these videos. I almost always like political parodies. These are, however, a bit outdated.

Is Yatsenyuk in the most pro European school of Ukrainian politics?

Maybe, Poroshenko is more pro-Western, but Yatsenyuk is more pro-EU. Now Poroshenko is the most pro-European politician in Ukraine

Patries, which are represented in Verkhovna Rada and which are not represented in Parliament, but still relatively popular ftom most pro-Eropean to least:

European Solidarity
Voice
Civil Platform
Strenght and Honor
Fatherland
Servant of the People
Svoboda
Radical Party
Opposition Bloc (pro-Russian)
Opposition Platform - For Life (pro-Russian)

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Any chance of Poroshenko comeback?

Poroshenko remains the most unpopular politician in Ukraine, as kelestian mentioned. Theoretically, he has a great chance of returning to his old position. If for the next 4 years, there is no reasonable, young alternative to pro-European, liberal conservative Poroshenko, then I think he will go through to the 2nd round in 2024. I am convinced that Zelensky does not keep his promise and will run for re-election in 2024. Therefore, if the two above conditions (there is no alternative to Poroshenko, Zelensky is running for office again), then Poroshenko will defeat Zelensky. West and Center will vote for Poroshenko and East and South for Zelensky

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Oh, it was really, really, REALLY subjective view on Ze and Ukraine's economy. If not flat-out lies. Like "wages are the same". What? Real wages rose by 12% during in 2019.
http://www.ukrstat.gov.ua/ official statics (in English as well, but there is a delay in updates).
Gas prices actually went down year-to-year Jan 20 vs Jan 19 etc, though the cost of water indeed rose. Blaming the situation in the villages etc on Ze is beyond ridiculous...


It seems to me that you just don't like the guy, because he's willing to compromise with Putin in order to get peace, while Poroshenko was a disgusting war-monger (as Hillary). You don't like Bernie for the same reason  

Wages increased by 12 percent in 2019 due to the actions of the Groysman government, since it existed until the end of the summer 2019. The price of gas really dropped from 7.5 UAH / cubic meter to 6 UAH / cubic meter, but they added a payment for gas transportation. So people have to pay as much or a little more money for gas. In addition, even now, if no one lives in the house or apartment, the owners are obliged to pay for the gas delivery.

I do not blame Zelensky for declining villages. I argue that the villages that with Poroshenko hold on last forces, now simply cannot continue this way. Poroshenko did nothing to develop the villages, but Zelensky is not even trying to remedy the situation.
 
"Собственно, а какая разница? Есть села или их нет? Развивается экономика или нет? Создаются новые рабочие места или нет?"
Если Вы понимаете русский, то я скажу: да, мне не нравится Зеленский и его команда. Мне просто больно смотреть, когда мою страну намеренно уничтожают и отдают на растерзание другим странам

And, yes, I criticize Zelensky for agreeing to "peace at all costs." This, in fact, is the surrender of the Ukrainian territories of Russia forever

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Denys Shmygal just confirmed as new Prime Minister of Ukraine. 291 deputies voted for him (SOTP, "For the Future", "Trust" and 14 independents)

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Yesterday I watched "The Right to Power" where the new Prime Minister Shmygal and two members of his Cabinet (Health Minister Ilya Yemets and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba) made their first appearance. A little analysis:

After hearing Shmygal's public address for the first time, I was pleased because he seemed smarter than Goncharuk. It is a pity that it was not long.

Yesterday on the air of the TV channel "1 + 1" he incorrectly answered the Gerasimov's question (the basic question concerning Ukrainian parliamentarism), and then showed that he is not guided at all in the rules of international law. He declined to name any figures related to the economy, saying that: "people do not want to hear the numbers, people are tired of them"

Shmygal is a man of Akhmetov. Now there is a struggle for influence between Kolomoysky and Akhmetov. The course of the new Prime Minister has remained the same: privatization and the land market.

He also said yesterday that Ukraine will supply water to Crimea, Zelensky's adviser denied it today. But Shmygal further insists that Ukrainians live in Crimea, so it is necessary to supply water (in fact, for ordinary Crimean residents there is enough water, there is not enough water for Russian invaders to build strategic military facilities)

Also yesterday evening, Verkhovna Rada expressed distrust of Attorney General Ruslan Ryaboshapka. The unofficial reason for this is that he did not sign the suspicion of former President Petro Poroshenko. Under his leadership, the Attorney General's Office has greatly improved its work, and has begun investigating cases that no one has investigated for years. Ryaboshapka began to exercise his independence and refused to persecute political opponents, so he was dismissed

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Yesterday I watched "The Right to Power" where the new Prime Minister Shmygal and two members of his Cabinet (Health Minister Ilya Yemets and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba) made their first appearance. A little analysis:

After hearing Shmygal's public address for the first time, I was pleased because he seemed smarter than Goncharuk. It is a pity that it was not long.

Yesterday on the air of the TV channel "1 + 1" he incorrectly answered the Gerasimov's question (the basic question concerning Ukrainian parliamentarism), and then showed that he is not guided at all in the rules of international law. He declined to name any figures related to the economy, saying that: "people do not want to hear the numbers, people are tired of them"

Shmygal is a man of Akhmetov. Now there is a struggle for influence between Kolomoysky and Akhmetov. The course of the new Prime Minister has remained the same: privatization and the land market.

He also said yesterday that Ukraine will supply water to Crimea, Zelensky's adviser denied it today. But Shmygal further insists that Ukrainians live in Crimea, so it is necessary to supply water (in fact, for ordinary Crimean residents there is enough water, there is not enough water for Russian invaders to build strategic military facilities)

Also yesterday evening, Verkhovna Rada expressed distrust of Attorney General Ruslan Ryaboshapka. The unofficial reason for this is that he did not sign the suspicion of former President Petro Poroshenko. Under his leadership, the Attorney General's Office has greatly improved its work, and has begun investigating cases that no one has investigated for years. Ryaboshapka began to exercise his independence and refused to persecute political opponents, so he was dismissed

Isn't Russia building new infrastructure from the mainland to the province anyway?

Crimea is no longer Ukraine's problem, so I don't see why you should waste your resources on it, especially considering a wealthier country is now in control of the territory.

Crimea is Ukrainian territory. And I never recognize Crimea as Russian territory. Today, Shmygal denied his statement and announced that Ukraine would not supply water until the Crimean de-occupation

According to the Geneva Convention, occupiers are responsible for the humanitarian needs in the occupied territories. Therefore, I do not understand why Ukraine should supply water to Crimea, providing Russian military and industrial facilities with resources

I also wouldn't call Russia much wealthier country

[😥]

Yesterday I watched "The Right to Power" where the new Prime Minister Shmygal and two members of his Cabinet (Health Minister Ilya Yemets and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba) made their first appearance. A little analysis:

After hearing Shmygal's public address for the first time, I was pleased because he seemed smarter than Goncharuk. It is a pity that it was not long.

Yesterday on the air of the TV channel "1 + 1" he incorrectly answered the Gerasimov's question (the basic question concerning Ukrainian parliamentarism), and then showed that he is not guided at all in the rules of international law. He declined to name any figures related to the economy, saying that: "people do not want to hear the numbers, people are tired of them"

Shmygal is a man of Akhmetov. Now there is a struggle for influence between Kolomoysky and Akhmetov. The course of the new Prime Minister has remained the same: privatization and the land market.

He also said yesterday that Ukraine will supply water to Crimea, Zelensky's adviser denied it today. But Shmygal further insists that Ukrainians live in Crimea, so it is necessary to supply water (in fact, for ordinary Crimean residents there is enough water, there is not enough water for Russian invaders to build strategic military facilities)

Also yesterday evening, Verkhovna Rada expressed distrust of Attorney General Ruslan Ryaboshapka. The unofficial reason for this is that he did not sign the suspicion of former President Petro Poroshenko. Under his leadership, the Attorney General's Office has greatly improved its work, and has begun investigating cases that no one has investigated for years. Ryaboshapka began to exercise his independence and refused to persecute political opponents, so he was dismissed

Isn't Russia building new infrastructure from the mainland to the province anyway?

Crimea is no longer Ukraine's problem, so I don't see why you should waste your resources on it, especially considering a wealthier country is now in control of the territory.

Crimea is Ukrainian territory. And I never recognize Crimea as Russian territory. Today, Shmygal denied his statement and announced that Ukraine would not supply water until the Crimean de-occupation

According to the Geneva Convention, occupiers are responsible for the humanitarian needs in the occupied territories. Therefore, I do not understand why Ukraine should supply water to Crimea, providing Russian military and industrial facilities with resources

I also wouldn't call Russia much wealthier country

I said "is in control of the territory", not "is Russian territory". The first one is just a fact of control, not a legal status.

I mean, it is much wealthier compared to Ukraine... Whatever numbers you look at the average or median salaries are at least 50% higher. Of course, Russia is still pretty poor compared to Western Europe.

I mean realistically it's unlikely it'll come back under Ukrainian control in the foreseeable future, and the stuff you said about humanitarian needs in occupied territories is kinda... overblown, considering most of the people there actually want to be part of Russia and are Russian.

Not that that gives them the right to take control of the territory, I'm just saying.

I do not blame you in any way. I fully understand and acknowledge that Crimea is unlikely to return to Ukrainian control for at least the next 50 years

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I do not blame you in any way. I fully understand and acknowledge that Crimea is unlikely to return to Ukrainian control for at least the next 50 years

Yeah, that's the most likely scenario for the next 50 years or so. I mean in a 100 years who knows, maybe China is the leader of the world or maybe they fail and get relegated on the world stage, no way we can really know...

I did want to ask you about the situation in East Ukraine, as finding objective English news on that is not very easy. I can read a bit of Russian/Ukrainian but it's too much of a strain for me to get through a complex article.

Are there any talks in progress or ceasefires? It's unlikely they'll manage to secede, so I'm more interested if there are any semi-autonomous province options on the table etc.

I watched a lot of heavy stuff but nothing hit me like that GoPro video of the Ukranian squad that got KIA and then the Separatists found his phone and called back his mother... You probably know what I mean.

Very sad conflict all around, even worse considering it's 2 practically blood identical groups killing each other.

Well, the first thing I can say about DPR and LPR is that they are not needed by anyone. If this territory was needed by Russia, it would be in its composition for a long time. All resources and even factories and strategic objects have long been exported to Russia. In my opinion, Ukraine also does not need this territory. I personally do not want to pay taxes for the restoration of the Donbass infrastructure after which that territory in 20-30 years will be separated again. A lot needs to be restored, as the infrastructure is destroyed and the fields are mined. It will take billions of dollars and many years.

I have many acquaintances originally from Donetsk and Luhansk and some of their relatives stayed there. Because of their feedback, I have to say that the DPR\LPR will never return to Ukraine in most cases. Children are brought up in the style of "Ukrainian-enemies, they must be killed". Older people get a pension in Ukraine and then help the militants to mock Ukrainian soldiers. Of course, a lot of people are dissatisfied with the situation there, but the vast majority of the population there want to Russia, not Ukraine

Now in the East attacks continue, despite the next truce. The negotiation process is ongoing. On average, militants break the silence mode 10-15 times a day. Every 3-4 days we have one person killed and one person injured every day. Often, our military is forbidden to open fire in response to shelling by invaders. At the expense of autonomy, I doubt it. 99% that there will be no autonomy. Only a part of the Servant of the People, who are directly under the influence of Kolomoisky, and OPFL favor autonomy in Ukrainian politics.

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Our government is totally incompetent. Ukraine is absolutely not ready for a pandemic.

At present, there are 3500 artificial lung ventilation devices in Ukraine, no one plans to expand their number. Zelensky promised to bring 10 million coronavirus tests from China, and now only 250 thousand rapid tests have been brought. Doctors do not test for coronavirus. In my hometown, a woman came to the hospital after visiting Italy with a dry cough and fever and was sent home because there were no tests on the ground.

Yesterday the President's Office ordered the heads of regional state administrations not to inform the population about the number of patients without approval of the President's Office. The main task set by governors is to reduce panic among the population. For 2 days no one has been reporting a new number of patients.

2 factories that were producing drugs and were already ready to produce coronavirus tests were quarantined.

It is the worst and most inefficient government in Ukrainian history. He is the worst and most ineffective President in the history of Ukraine

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So how have the different political players been responding to the pandemic?

Responding to the pandemic in Ukraine of the authorities, that is, Zelensky and his team is average or bad, of course, not terrible. Although Ukraine is the anti leader in the number of tests conducted.

I am more concerned about the political aspect of the coronavirus, as political feuds over opponents and participants of the Maidan (see Tetyana Chornovol, Sofia Fedyna and Volodymyr Vyatrovich) and the concealment of corruption are now beginning.

Recently, the People's Deputy from SOTP Geo Leros released the "Ermak film", where it is seen that the brother of the Head of President's Office was selling certain positions in the government. Geo Leros prosecuted 6 cases, and no investigation was conducted against Yermak

As for the pandemic, I see almost no response from the Fatherland, while European Solidarity delivers material assistance to hospitals all over Ukraine almost daily. Sometimes Medvedchuk comes to the hospitals too

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Well considering that Poroshenko and his donors are rich, that’s a no brainer.

Can you tell us more of these rivalries and supposed concealments? What cracks are forming in the Maiden Veteran camp?

Maybe, I have misspelled the word. There are no quarrels at the Maidan camp, but instead the political persecution of Maidan participants and veterans of the anti-terrorist operation has begun. About two weeks ago, a former People's Deputy, one of the "symbols of the Maidan", Yanukovych's personal enemy (Yanukovych even ordered her to be killed in 2013, but that didn't happen), Tatiana Chornovol, was handed over suspicion of premeditated murder. She is accused of setting fire to the office of the Party of Regions, resulting in the death of an employee there, though previous 2 investigations have shown he returned to the office after leaving the building

Also during the quarantine, the Verkhovna Rada, at the request of Zelensky, released Attorney General Ruslan Ryaboshapka (official version: no investigation in numerous cases, unofficial version: refusal of Ryaboshapka to sign Poroshenko's suspicion). Most human rights activists and politicial activists  were categorically unable to accept this, as Iryna Venediktova (number 3 in the list of "Servant of the People", good qfriend of Portnov and Dobkin) was appointed as a Attorney General, after whose appointment the case against Poroshenko was revived and criminal proceedings against Maidan participants began

Also, according to Zelensky's personal statement last year, they opened a case against People's Deputy Sofia Fedyna, as she recorded a video with volunteer Marusya Zvirobiy, where they criticized Zelensky's trip to Donbass without camouflage and said that it would be so easy for separatists to kill him (she is charged with the threat of murder). The corruption case was brought against Volodymyr Vyatrovich (when he was the director of the Institute of National Memory, a certain amount of money (I do not remember the exact figure) was spent on organizing the Holodomor Victims Day

And about the films of Ermak:

SOTP MP Geo Leros has released films, the total duration of which is about 48 hours, clearly seen as the brother of the head of the President's Office, Andrew Ermak, sells positions in government for a certain amount of money to various people. Leros immediately wrote statements to the SBU, NABU and other law enforcement agencies, but they did not open an investigation. Instead, the SBU (that is, Venediktova) opened an investigation against Leros himself, immediately under 6 articles of the Criminal Code (there are no legal grounds for this). Zelensky did not respond to all this

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Do any of the Ukrainian posters have insight into why Zelensky is so popular?

https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/poll-68-of-ukrainians-approve-of-president-zelenskys-first-year.html

Unfortunately, most Ukrainians are very easy to manipulate. And the central TV channels create such an atmosphere that all of Zelensky's failures occur through PM Shmygal, the Verkhovna Rada or even Poroshenko. Although Zelensky has absolute power over all institutions in the country, people do not understand or do not want to understand. And for about 30% Poroshenko remains "a bastard, a marauder who profits from the war" because of a very successful media company ZE!

And my prediction: if snap elections were held now, Zelensky would win over all candidates
Zelensky 64%
Poroshenko 36%

If snap elections were held a year later, Zelensky would lose to almost all candidates
Poroshenko 57%
Zelensky 43%

And now I am looking forward to the return of Oleg Lyashko to the Verkhovna Rada (on October 25 will be snap elections in the district in Chernihiv region, whose MP Davydenko was killed)

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Doubt about Poroshenko's future. He is still the most unpopular politician in the Country, sure, he has like 10-15% of hard supporters, but that's not enough for glorious return.

Also there are a lot of opened cases against him, though i've heard some of them were close recently. Some of them about corruption, one about his appointment of Russian citizen as Deputy Head of Foreign Intelligence, etc.

I can't  post any links, but rn his approval is 18% and climbing up. I think he will reach 30% by next year's  summer, and 30% means that he would be certainly electable. Atleast he will manage to go into 2nd  round. Currently, there alot of people being disillusioned by Ze. Each day this number will grow.

Most of the cases opened aganist him  is a blatant fraud. Even Ze's  appointed judges refuse to work with those cases often.

P.S. Я уверен, что если в следующем  году будут внеочередные, и во второй тур выйдут Порох и Бойко, то Порох сможет повторить Гровера  Кливленда.

Но с тем, что происходит в мире, до этого надо еще дожить как-то, хе-хе.....

18% is not much. Wasn't his approval rating around the same before 2019 election?

Yeah, in some time Zelensky will be as unpopular as Poroshenko during his presidency. But no way Petr will be his main opponent, people still remember his term, i predict another centrist-populist will emerge and crush Zelensky

In 5 years, Ukraine will undergo a massive reassessment of Poroshenko's contributions to the development of Ukrainian statehood, and after people are totally disappointed in Zelensky, Petro will look like a real leader in the eyes of Ukrainians.

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Glad to see SOTP imploding

Who woulda thought an inexperienced comedian would be an awful President.

The Ukrainian people were subjugated to so much stress and lies, especially since 2014, that they were willing to accept anything that was going to bring change for the sake of change. They didn’t have the comfort or know how from such stress to accurately reflect on just how much of a clown show things actually were.

The people themselves were fooled into supporting an incompetent oligarchic puppet that said what sounded nice over the various sullied, more predictable oligarchic puppets. So no, I can’t see why anyone should blame the voters and not the people and institutions that brought the Ukrainian people here.

PSOL, unfortunately, I can not agree with you. Ukrainian voters are most to blame for Zelensky becoming president.

People either did not want to or could not (in most cases not know how) to analyze the situation. During the campaign, Zelensky made many, many odious statements, after which normal, intelligent voters would never have voted for him, but Ukrainians did not want to see Poroshenko's achievements and allowed Kolomoisky's TV channels to manipulate them.

This picture best illustrates the presidential election:


Where Poroshenko is slowly building a ladder:
1. Army
2. Faith
3. Language
4. Tomos
5. Decentralization
and more

And Zelensky easily ascended the throne thanks to TV channels
"News One"
"1 + 1"
"Ours"
"112 Ukraine"
"Inter"

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Glad to see SOTP imploding

Who woulda thought an inexperienced comedian would be an awful President.

The Ukrainian people were subjugated to so much stress and lies, especially since 2014, that they were willing to accept anything that was going to bring change for the sake of change. They didn’t have the comfort or know how from such stress to accurately reflect on just how much of a clown show things actually were.

The people themselves were fooled into supporting an incompetent oligarchic puppet that said what sounded nice over the various sullied, more predictable oligarchic puppets. So no, I can’t see why anyone should blame the voters and not the people and institutions that brought the Ukrainian people here.

PSOL, unfortunately, I can not agree with you. Ukrainian voters are most to blame for Zelensky becoming president.

People either did not want to or could not (in most cases not know how) to analyze the situation. During the campaign, Zelensky made many, many odious statements, after which normal, intelligent voters would never have voted for him, but Ukrainians did not want to see Poroshenko's achievements and allowed Kolomoisky's TV channels to manipulate them.

This picture best illustrates the presidential election:


Where Poroshenko is slowly building a ladder:
1. Army
2. Faith
3. Language
4. Tomos
5. Decentralization
and more

And Zelensky easily ascended the throne thanks to TV channels
"News One"
"1 + 1"
"Ours"
"112 Ukraine"
"Inter"

This just strengthens my argument. Zelenskiy had an entire news channel acting as a mouthpiece in blasting good PR about him, along with stations being more favorable to him than the other candidates. Why then are you blaming the Ukrainian people, whose only sources of news are clearly biased, and not the oligarchs owning the vast majority of news programs in Ukraine feeding a clown’s campaign?

Because most voters simply could not (didn't want) analyze the information for 2014-2019. Of course, the media plays a significant role in almost all election campaigns, but people must have their own opinion and be willing to analyze all the information, and not believe the story "1+1" that Poroshenko killed his brother. By the way, the newly appointed Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko (SOTP), the former general director of "1+1", said that the story of Poroshenko's brother's murder was his bad joke.

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Uh, come on, guys. Zelensky is awful president, but Poroshenko wasn't Lee Kuan Yew either, just another corrupt east european politician. And he has TV support before 2019 election as well: "1+1" was pro-Zelensky, but Fifth Channel and Pryamoi were very pro-Poroshenko. Pinchuk's and Achmetov's channels were neutral.

New SMC polling research, by the way.
https://smc.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-06-22-PR.pdf

For the first time in my memory Zelensky has negative approval ratings
Approve/Disapprove
41.3/50.2%

Voting intentions
SOTP 30.5%
Opposition Party "For Life" 18.6%
European Solidarity 12%
Fatherland 9.7%
Others less than 5%.

European Solidarity (party of Poroshenko) now leads in West Ukraine, OP (pro-russian) leads in Donbass and is near-second with SOTP in East and South. SOTP with comfortable lead in Central Ukraine, European Solidarity, OP, and Fatherland all around 10%

Imagine saying that Poroshenko is corrupt, while his net worth shrank  by 40% comparing to 2014. Guy literally gave away millions to Army, for example, buying AA defense assets  around Kyiv in 2014.

All Ukrainian oligarchs lost huge amounts of their net worth after EuroMaidan, that doesn’t mean anything really. And him investing in protecting his remaining assets isn’t exactly altruistic of him either.

Let me disagree with you again, yes, all Ukrainian oligarchs suffered losses after the EuroMaidan, but most of them quickly regained their positions (especially after 2019). At the same time, Poroshenko was an altruistic volunteer who helped the army a lot.

And, at least under Poroshenko, the poor did not become poorer, but only increased their wealth, the middle class also became quite rich, and the rich remained exactly where they were

My grandfather, who was quite poor before 2014, received a pension of $170 in 2014, but at the end of 2019 he was already receiving $380 a month. And literally for a year of savings (2017-2018) he was able to buy a new car

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An extraordinary sitting of the Verkhovna Rada is starting now, at which the issue of the resignation of the Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine Yakov Smoliy will be considered. Smoliy resigned yesterday due to political pressure from Zelensky. Smoliy refused to start the emission process, which Zelensky insisted on

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The Rada passed a law that residents of the LPR / DPR will be able to enter higher education institutions in Ukraine without passing exams without queuing and study at public expense. I absolutely do not support this decision. Now children who hate Ukraine, who trampled on the Ukrainian flag and kicked patriots, following the example of their parents, who have a DNR passport and probably Russia, who may have fought against Ukraine (there is a recent example), have more rights than children of soldiers ATO/JFO than children who are true patriots. Now children from LDNR and Crimea, who would not pass the exams at all, will go to university at public expense, and children - winners of the All-Ukrainian Olympiads must study at their own expense, because their place was taken by first. Thank you to "EU" and "Voice" for voting against! All others voted for.

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Children of soldiers have privileges during universities admission. As for this measure - i think great move from government. Demographic situation in Ukraine is terrible, and Country needs young people from LDNR.

Why does Ukraine need people from the LDPR who hate Ukraine and all Ukrainian, who want this state not to exist? People who are patriots have long ago left these territories, so it is not necessarily to talk about the patriots of Ukraine in LDPR

And about Poroshenko's corruption. He was corrupt, but he wasn't as corrupt as Zelensky and Tymoshenko. And Poroshenko is, easily, the least corrupt politician in Ukraine

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A soldier who was abandoned on the line of demarcation died yesterday. For 4 days he lay without food, without water and with bleeding. Zelensky personally took control of the case and promised to return him alive. But he (Zelensky) flew on vacation

Meanwhile, the Verkhovna Rada passed a bill that violates the association with the EU. Also, the pro-Russian part of SOTP and OPFL want to pass the so-called "Buzhansky's bill", which will actually make Ukraine Russian-speaking.

Zelensky once again confirmed that he is the worst President in the history of Ukraine. Again! His incompetence, lying and greed for money caused another death! I hope that he will feel for himself all that the soldiers in the trench are going through, that their mothers are going through!