These are tense, if not critical days for Ukraine, and a time for unity, not internal feuding.
Not only is the threat of a renewed military incursion from massed Russian forces on its borders still a constant headache but, as the massive cyberattack on Ukraine’s official infrastructure has also just reminded us, the enemy can strike in the many forms that the arsenal of hybrid warfare offers.
So, as has been pointed out not only by concerned western friends of Ukraine and their diplomatic representatives, but also by unblinkered patriots free of party-political allegiances and financial patronage, this is a time for Ukrainians to unite, temporarily putting aside their differences and political ambitions, and working together for the common cause.
It is necessary not only to be properly prepared to withstand any move by the Kremlin capitalizing on its military superiority, but also its calculated exploitation of internal divisions that weaken Ukraine from within.
That is why what has turned out to be the political theatre around the serious charges levelled against former president Petro Poroshenko by his successor’s law enforcement agencies is damaging for the country at this perilous moment, not only its morale and internal cohesion but also its reputation in the eyes of its allies.
This does not mean that the charges against Poroshenko should be ignored or swept under the carpet. There is a legal system, however imperfect, and procedures and norms, both constitutional and international, through which the accusations should be handled.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has to avoid coming across as being vindictive and the law enforcement agencies to ensure they are not seen as acting according to political order.
But Poroshenko too, a former “guarantor of the constitution,” has to stop treating the existing legal system, and for that matter, the democratically elected leader of the country, with contempt, and refrain from the vitriolic and consciously divisive language that he has relied on both at home, and as demonstrated in recent days in Brussels and Warsaw, abroad as well.
Poroshenko and his fellow lawmakers and supporters are not above the law, and like all other citizens, including the current president, are subject to it.
It is time for statesmanship and putting the public and national good first. Ukraine’s predicament calls for a moratorium on internal in-fighting to be declared – for all true patriots to sit down at one table and, while the clear and present danger to Ukraine and the West lasts, to swallow their pride, put aside their political ambitions, and put Ukraine first.
