Poroshenko: “We can’t survive without U.S. support—but Ukraine must do its part”

Source: European Solidarity

Commenting the US presidential election, former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine must ‘do its bit’ and have more responsible policies as it can’t shift needs to do “its bit” and not shift responsibility to the allies like the US.

Poroshenko said, “We cannot live without American support, but we must do our bit. Simply attempting to shift responsibility to our partners and then saying ‘it didn’t work because they failed us’ won’t work. That path leads Ukraine to catastrophe; it’s fundamentally irresponsible.”

He also warned against the situation where Ukraine becomes a divisive issue between US Republicans and Democrats, which regretfully happened last December .

When it comes to future contacts with Donald Trump,  Kyiv will need to come up with  a well-planned strategy. “The window of opportunity will be very narrow—not measured in months, but in weeks—when the newly elected president can execute their plans,” said Poroshenko.

The former president sounded confident that the U.S. aid would keep flowing in because the newly elected president will respect ‘prior commitments” on military aid and financial backing.

He also slammed the goverment’s budget plans to funnel money into law enforcement salaries or road construction when the country’s troops are in dire need of military equipment and ammunition.