Poroshenko not capable of resolving Donbas problem, Putin says

The current Ukrainian government is not capable of
resolving the Donbas problem, Russian President Putin told a Nov. 15 press
conference, as reported by the tass.ru news site. He added that he will work
with any Ukrainian government to fulfill the Minsk Accords since resolving the
armed conflict can only happen peacefully. He dismissed Western criticisms
regarding the Nov. 11 elections in Donbas that violated the Minsk Accords. “We
didn’t hear something about condemning the murders that occur on the territories
of the unrecognized republics,” Putin said. “That’s the whole issue. First it’s
necessary to condemn the politically motivated murders that occur there.”

Putin’s statement is a clear attempt to influence the
presidential election campaign before it has even begun, Ukrainian Presidential
Administration Press Secretary Sviatoslav Tsegolko said on his Facebook page in
response. “Obvious is Putin’s hostility to (President Petro) Poroshenko as a
statesman who undermined the Kremlin’s plans to return Ukraine under the
control of the Russian empire,” Tsegolko said. “The question of Ukraine’s
government won’t be decided by the Kremlin, but the Ukrainian people.”
Poroshenko will continue to support a “political-diplomatic resolution” to the
armed conflict in Donbas, but will never agree to peace on the Kremlin’s terms,
he said.

It’s very important for the U.S. for Ukraine’s next
president to continue the selected course of reforms and the geopolitical course
to integrate with the European Union, Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Valeriy
Chaly said in an interview with the Ukrinform news agency. For Ukraine-U.S.
relations to develop further, consistency is needed in Ukraine’s foreign policy
and geopolitical course towards Euro-Atlantic integration, he said. The U.S.
won’t directly endorse any political candidates or parties, but its willingness
to cooperate will be with those who preserve this course, he said.

Zenon Zawada: Though they
won’t make any official statement, most top U.S. government officials would
like to see Poroshenko re-elected, given that he has fully coordinated
Ukraine’s strategy in repelling Russia’s military aggression with Western
governments. A second Poroshenko term is highly predictable in terms of its
foreign policy and military strategy, which is what Western leaders want.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin would ideally like to see
Yuriy Boyko become president. If the second-round runoff is between Poroshenko
and former PM Yulia Tymoshenko, the Kremlin will favor Tymoshenko, regardless
of her strong rhetoric against Russia and for Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic
integration. A Tymoshenko presidency presents an opportunity for Moscow after
she has demonstrated throughout her career that she can take flexible political
positions when it’s expedient for her political  career. That doesn’t
necessarily mean she will abandon Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration.