Pyotr Poroshenko has claimed his country will either win, become like Israel, or collapse Afghanistan-style
FILE PHOTO: An old Ukrainian checkpoint. © Andre Alves / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has said he envisions several possible scenarios for how his country’s armed confrontation with Russia could end.
Poroshenko, who was elected in 2014 in the wake of the Western-backed coup in Kiev but was soundly beaten at the ballot box five years later by current President Vladimir Zelensky, believes there are three ways the hostilities could pan out.
“Victory, the Israeli solution, and the Afghan solution,” the former leader explained in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published on Monday.
The ‘victory’ scenario involves ousting Russian troops from territories that Ukraine claims sovereignty over. This would result in Russian President Vladimir Putin losing power, Poroshenko predicted.
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The ‘Israeli solution’ is “supported by many who tell us they are tired of war,” the former president said. But receiving a steady flow of military assistance from the West will not be enough, he added, because “we are facing not Palestinians, but a nuclear power.”
The last scenario involves Western powers “abandoning us the way you did Afghanistan,” Poroshenko suggested. He was referring to the US withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country after two decades of occupation, and the coinciding swift collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government in 2021.If Ukraine ends up the same way, “Putin will come after you,” Poroshenko warned.
Ukraine has been flooded with Western weapons since tensions with Russia escalated into open hostilities in February 2022. Moscow has repeatedly said this policy will only prolong the conflict, but will not change its outcome.
Zelensky’s government has stated that its only option is to recapture all the territory it has lost since 2014. Kiev has imposed a ban on negotiations with Russia for as long as Putin remains in office.
