Faced with the strong possibility of being trounced by a comedian with no political experience, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has started throwing Hail Marys, such as awkwardly performing a folk song on stage.
He has pushed for the passage of a law that made Ukrainian the state language and made it the primary language in education.
“This isn’t the same Ukraine as it was five, 10 or 25 years ago,” said Dmytro Bedratenko, 38, an entrepreneur from the central region of Cherkassy. “Ukrainians are tired of the language issue and the nationalism stuff. Mostly, we just want to see something new.” “But I think it was a mistake to concentrate only on these logos: language, army, and the like,” he said. “This tactic limited his political maneuvers. He needed to present something very different for undecided voters.”
Zelensky is riding a wave that has brought anti-establishment politicians to power around the world. Still, many analysts expressed worry over how little is known about his politics. “If there’s a reversal of this momentum and it creates instability in some of the still fragile institutions we have rebuilt, this could make Ukraine vulnerable to another attack from the outside,” she said.
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