Two groups of demonstrators clashed overnight on Oct. 9, near former President Petro Poroshenko’s house in Kozyn, a village located 30 kilometers south of Kyiv.
Clashes took place between Poroshenko’s supporters and opponents over his alleged ties with controversial tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk, according to Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda.
A video posted on Facebook by Kyiv City Council deputy, Oleksandr Pohrebyskyi, showed two groups of people clashing, some of them war veterans. According to Pohrebyskyi, war veterans were attacked by “titushki,” or thugs.
Some of the demonstrators tried to break through to Poroshenko’s house located nearby, Iryna Gerashchenko, a lawmaker within Poroshenko’s 27-member European Solidarity party, wrote on Facebook. Still, on Oct. 10, the police reported that “no serious violations of law and order were recorded.”
“On the night of Oct. 9-10, a clash broke out between the protesters, which the police regularly stopped, preventing further conflict,” Kyiv Oblast National Police wrote on Facebook.
Two groups of demonstrators clashed near the former president Petro Poroshenko’s house in Kozyn, a village in Kyiv Oblast on Oct. 9. (5 Channel)
Poroshenko, who arrived at the spot later on Oct. 9, appealed to President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying that his office will be responsible for the events.
“(You) will be responsible for the inaction of law enforcement agencies, for the fact that the President’s Office issues orders to buy thugs, sends them here, insulting Ukraine,” Poroshenko’s Facebook post read.
There has been no official response from the President’s Office yet.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, Poroshenko’s opponents said that they came to the former president to demand an explanation on his connections with Pro-Kremlin lawmaker Medvedchuk.
Earlier on Oct. 8, Medvedchuk was charged with a second count of high treason on Oct. 8. In 2014 he derailed Ukraine’s attempt to buy coal from South Africa and orchestrated an illegal scheme to supply coal from Russian-occupied Donbas to state-owned enterprises in Ukraine, according to the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU.
After Medvedchuk was charged, SBU chief Ivan Bakanov also said they are now looking into Poroshenko: Earlier in June, tapes released by the Bihus.info investigative journalism project revealed the information on relations between Poroshenko and Medvedchuk.
According to the tapes, Medvedchuk acted as an intermediary between Poroshenko and Russian top officials concerning gas deals, peace talks and prisoner exchanges.
Both Poroshenko and Medvedchuk denied wrongdoing.
Read also: Pro-Kremlin MP Medvedchuk charged with terrorism, treason — again
