“NATO and the EU are the key to the peace process in Ukraine”

Petro Poroshenko’s three-car caravan has stopped at a gas station in the town of Pavlograd, on the highway that serves as an access to Donetsk province. He has a virtual meeting to discuss the European Union’s decision to begin negotiations for Ukraine’s accession. Poroshenko assumed the presidency after winning the early elections of 2014, which were a consequence of the so-called revolution of dignity or, also, Euromaidan. Ukraine was under the shock of the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the war in the Donbass, where the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhanks controlled part of the territory. Five years later, Poroshenko would lose the elections to Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he today considers one of his main opponents. But current polls are not in favor of Poroshenko.

“Believe me! The window of opportunity was very narrow. And if we did not have the decision now –from the European Union–, perhaps it would be delayed a generation. I am very happy that it happened because this is the process to change the country. From the Soviet style we are moving to one of the best democratic, free and important systems, which is that of the European continent,” says Poroshenko when addressing it. He says that he comes from spending the day with the soldiers and recognizes that the situation on the battle fronts, but especially in the Donbass, is complicated. Hence the importance of the message he sends to Europe. “Do you know that Ukraine is now the most Euro-optimistic nation on the continent? 90% of Ukrainians want Ukraine to be a full member of the European Union. 90% want Ukraine to be a full member of NATO. Both, at the end of the day, are the key to the peace process in Ukraine,” he says.

What does the green light to start EU accession negotiations mean?

If we hadn’t had that success it would have been a gift to Putin. Now you must be very disappointed. That was a very strong blow for him, for his entire propaganda machine and for all of his supporters. He spends ten times more money than us, he has five times more soldiers than us, he has ten times more tanks, fighter-bombers and everything than us. But we have motivation and solidarity.

The difficult part comes now. What awaits Ukraine?

We are about to begin an important stage of reforms that will help strengthen democracy, the rule of law, the fight against corruption, freedom of the media, and decentralization. But in the end it is returning to the European family. Our nation and our people say goodbye to Moscow. The celebration has been very, very big.

Two weeks ago you were going to go to Hungary to meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. What was I going to talk to him about? Why is Hungary becoming a stone in Ukraine’s path?

First of all, I know Orbán very well. I had a very fruitful negotiation with him when we made an association agreement. And not all European nations were happy about the association agreement with Hungary. And together with my team we finished ratifying it. I hoped to do everything possible to make this process possible. If I have to go to Budapest, I will try. I sent a letter to Orbán when he was not allowed to go. And I told him: please don’t pay attention that some useful fool blocked the opposition leader when he was going to leave the country. We have solved this problem. Now we need a green light in the Ukrainian integration process. For me it is not important who takes the medal for that, Charles Michel or Macron, Scholz or Sánchez. I am very proud that our joint efforts are paying off.

We have visited regions near the front, and it is probably one of the most difficult moments for Ukraine in these almost two years. You have visited soldiers in Donbass. How have you received the news?

You can confirm that this news is very important for soldiers. Another important thing: we need ammunition, weapons, sanctions and solidarity. In the current situation, when Ukrainian troops lack ammunition, radio-electronic warfare systems, air defense, F-16 aircraft… it is impossible to win the battle. We have enough weapons to defend ourselves but we definitely do not have enough to end the war. It is very positive that we have the green light for our pre-accession talks, but it is negative that we do not have the 50 billion euro package for macro-financial aid. And also with the important amount of 61,000 million dollars from the United States. But please, Putin must be stopped! We need to deputinize Europe. I believe that our joint efforts can lead us to victory. I am optimistic.

Days ago was the anniversary of the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Church of Moscow. You had a lot to do with this process. What has it meant?

I am very glad that millions of Ukrainians have the opportunity to go to a church not linked to Moscow. And that was another powerful blow for Putin, when he realized that he has nothing to keep Ukraine in the orbit of the Russian empire. He does not have the ability to prevent us from joining the EU and NATO. And why is it so important to us? Because it has been said that NATO means life, but the European Union means a better life.