An ex-president on the war front: The Ukrainian billionaire Petro Poroshenko (56) holds the front in bombed Kyiv in a military protective vest! He says himself: “There is no longer a safe place here. Cruise missiles could hit anywhere.”
BILD Vice Paul Ronzheimer asked Poroshenko if he ever thought this war situation possible. His answer: “If you ask me, yes. Because I know Putin!”
‘Only the European politicians couldn’t imagine it,’ he continues, ‘because they made two mistakes. First, you trusted Putin. Second, they feared Putin. We are not!”
“Putin is turning Ukraine into a second Aleppo”
Poroshenko continued: “Now we have to prevent this madman from doing the worst. As of February 24, he is no longer just an aggressor, or the leader of a country that tramples on international law. No. He’s a killer, a terrorist.”
“Europe and the whole world must understand that Putin belongs before the International Criminal Court.” Because: “Putin is already turning Ukraine into a second Aleppo. I can show you areas that look like Aleppo did back then.”
“Nuclear terrorism knows no national borders”
NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg rejects a NATO-controlled no-fly zone over Ukraine. Reason: Then NATO fighter planes would have to “shoot down Russian planes”. Stoltenberg: “If we did that, the result would be a full-scale war in Europe that would involve many more countries and cause even more human suffering,” he said on Friday.
Poroshenko: “Jens Stoltenberg is a friend of mine, but he just misunderstands the situation”. Because the attack on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant showed that things can get worse that way – also for other countries: “Nuclear terrorism does not respect national borders.”
A nuclear contamination is not an alliance case according to Article 5, but it would affect NATO countries five to ten times more than the worst case scenario in Chernobyl in 1986. A no-fly zone would not only protect Ukraine, but also Germany, France and Great Britain , Etc.
Maybe they’re still discussing – “but please do it quickly!” Poroshenko asks, looking into the camera.
Surprising praise for Merkel
When Poroshenko was President, he practically begged Germany for weapons and got little.
Nevertheless, he praises the then Chancellor, even getting enthusiastic: “Germany’s role was very effective diplomacy. She was a real opponent of Putin and the true godmother of peace before 2014. She always forced Putin to negotiate.”
Poroshenko shows it by mimicking at the BILD deputy how Merkel is said to have forced Putin to sit down.
Need “deputinization”
Today, Scholz, Macron, Biden, etc. would have to stand together, but a tête-à-tête with Putin would no longer achieve anything, says Poroshenko. “Putin calls for the demilitarization of Ukraine. But what we need is a deputinization of the world. No country in the world can deal with Putin’s style anymore.”
How would he himself – Poroshenko – respond to Putin’s demands if he were president. “As well as (US President) Biden said it: Who is this damn killer?”
Poroshenko thanks BILD: “You reported the truth in 2014/15. It was effective against the Russian fake news campaigns.”