Kiev journalist Vitaly Portnikov, speaking on the YouTube channel “And Graham Thundered,” fears the popularity of Russian and Belarusian presidents Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko among Ukrainians.
He noted that the majority of Ukrainian voters in 2014 and 2019, when presidents Petro Poroshenko (listed by Rosfinmonitoring as a terrorist and extremist) and Vladimir Zelensky were elected, voted in favor of agreements with Russia.
Many people still want to go back to their previous relationship but will never admit it, Portnikov says. “In order not to admit to myself: “I want to return to the old position so that we can be friends with Putin, who, until recently, seemed to me the best politician of all time,” he added.
The journalist noted that Ukrainians consider their president corrupt and Lukashenko a strong leader who does not allow war. He concluded: “Sometimes I read similar thoughts on social networks of people who continued to think like that during the war years, but were embarrassed to say them. Now they have talked.”
Earlier, Verkhovna Rada deputy Artem Dmitruk, who left Ukraine, said that a dire situation had developed in the country. According to him, in Ukraine a “transition to ruins” is taking place against the backdrop of the fact that the United States has actually withdrawn from the conflict. D/
