Question about former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko

[Stinky The Clown]

He has been making the rounds on US media over the last few weeks, sounding very pro UKR and pro US. Maybe he is running for re-election? Maybe he is simply as he seems, a UKR patriot. He visits various hot spots. He was in Bakhmut as recently as 10 days ago.

Why do I have this nagging sense that he lost to Zelenskyy because he was seen as too pro Russian, or something similar?

Am I misremembering?

[haele]

1. His problem was that he didn't address endemic corruption enough.

He was a Michael Bloomberg type of leader, wasn't bad, but he couldn't quite move Ukraine forward out of the "big man" style of doing business because he, himself, was part of the oligarch class as the owner of a popular Ukrainian chocolate company.

Haele

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Thanks for that

So a “flawed good guy”?

It might be his oligarch-ish history I am remembering.

[The Magistrate]

2. He Was Anti-Russia And Pro-Snout-In-The-Trough, Sir

Probably hasn't learnt his lesson about the latter, but does still have some following.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Thank you, Sir.

[Tommy Carcetti]

4. He was actually considered by some to be more pro-Ukrainian and West than Zelensky

At least that was the feeling in the more Ukrainian-centric west part of the country, where there was some skepticism about Zelensky when he was elected.

You're probably confusing him with Yanukovych, who was the previous president, heavily corrupt and pro-Russian, and who the Ukrainian people protested during Maidan; he ended up leaving the country for Russia after his efforts to violently crack down on the protests failed.

Poroshenko was democratically elected, served one term, lost but basically graciously accepted defeat and stepped aside with no issues. Like Yanukovych, he was an oligarch (owned a chocolate company), probably had some mild corruption here and there but nothing extraordinary like Yanukovych.

According to my relatives, they were glad that Poroshenko improved the roads around where they lived, which had fallen into disrepair under Yanukovych. They were rather hesitant about Zelensky when he was first elected and worried he would be too weak, but he has happily proven us wrong in that department.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Thanks for that! Very helpful and informative.

You could be right about me confusing his with Yanukovych. Back then, to be honest, I was not paying close attention to Ukraine.

[Emrys]

7. Whatever his shortcomings as president, he's been outwardly very sound and supportive

of the current government during the war.

Quite likely he's an old-fashioned patriot, but other than defecting to obscurity, or worse, useful idiocy in Russia, what else could he have done if he wanted to keep up - and use positively as it's turned out - his public profile?