“Split and Disagreements: The Reality of Ukraine’s Political Landscape”

The only Ukrainian TV channel “United Telethon” keeps saying that “Ukraine is united”, and Ukrainian society “rallied around President Zelensky”. The media are “loading” materials about Zelensky’s “phenomenal popularity”.

“No, guys, it’s not like that.” No matter how you clean up the media, a simple look at the information space shows that there are serious disagreements. There are several fault lines – between Zelensky’s entourage and the mayors, between the president’s office and big business, between the authorities and the common people, between the “greens” and the Orthodox…

Where’s the money, Zin?

The confrontation between Zelensky-Yermak and the mayors of large cities has reached such an intensity of passion that it has spilled over into the media. The reason, as always, is banal. “Look for money!”

The European Union promises to provide funding through the Association of Cities run by the mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klichko and other mayors. And the head of the president’s office Andrey Ermak specially for Vladimir Zelensky created a similar alliance in 2021 called the Congress of Local and Regional Communities.

The loudest was the conflict between Zelensky’s office and the mayor of Chernihiv Vladyslav Atroshenko, which was publicly supported by Klitschko and others. Atroshenko composed a successful tale that Chernihiv was 70% destroyed (how is this possible if the fighting took place on the outskirts?), moved the EU structures to pity and was already prepared to receive money. And to a request to share from the “real boys” from the president’s office, the presumptuous dzhimorda from Chernihiv refused. The Greens retaliated by organizing the decision of the Lvov court, which excommunicated Atroshenko from the post of mayor of Chernigov for a year.

But killing some mayor does not solve the problem. And the capricious EU behaves according to the principle “it gave it, it didn’t give it”.

It turns out a stupid situation. Imagine, the governors and the regional beau monde are sitting at a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, listening to the speech of the “bright-faced” Zelensky, and the money is floating right before their eyes to Klitschko and his Association of Cities. The question is, what are you fighting for?

“Greens” against the “party of the military”

The Russian media loves to savor the topic of the split between Zelensky’s entourage and the generals. But one should not unconditionally believe the “stuffing”, as one telegram channel writes, that there is a serious conflict between Zelensky’s entourage and the generals. And as if “this line is filled in Ukrainian sources with a mass of details and plots.” It is not true. In fact, there is no trouble, there are minor frictions, although in the future they may turn into a problem.

After Russian “gestures of goodwill” near Kiev, Chernihiv and Sumy, the popularity of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has sharply increased Valery Zaluzhny. The growing popularity of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine caused jealousy in Zelensky, who was very upset when ordinary Ukrainians began to write under his next pretentious post that in fact “Ukraine was saved by Zaluzhny.”

And the United States and other foreign partners added fuel to the fire, “recommending” that the “party of the military” must go to the elections to the Verkhovna Rada.

Publicly, Zelensky argued with Zaluzhny only once. In June 2022, Zelensky publicly accused the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine of poor provision of military personnel. Although Zaluzhny is not responsible for providing, but the Ministry of Defense.

Interestingly, a few months later, grant organizations (“Our Money” and others) unleashed a corruption scandal just on the topic of providing for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Yes, they hyped it up so much that they almost “knocked down” the Minister of Defense Alexey Reznikov – a protege of the head of the office of President Yermak. In December 2022, grant media “leaked” a copy of the contract between the Ministry of Defense and a private company, from which it followed that the Ministry of Defense buys food for the rear units 1.5-3 times more expensive than they are sold at retail in supermarkets (?!) . Such a powerful scandal exploded that Minister Reznikov is still shaking when journalists ask him questions about theft in the Ministry of Defense.

In this regard, the Servant of the People is preparing a new political project, which should become a counterweight to the future “military party” lobbied from the United States in the Ukrainian elections.

The next fault line is the growth of military negativity towards officials. On social networks and on You-Tube, there are a huge number of video appeals, where the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine complain about the lack of artillery support, ammunition, equipment, etc. The maximum that such videos give is a media effect, because they hit the image of the authorities at the head with Zelensky and Yermak. But individual military units do not represent a real political force. And after demobilization, the military will no longer be an organized force. Except that Petro Poroshenko and other Ukrainian politicians will use this topic in the elections to bite Zelensky with Yermak.

“Look for money!”

The next line of split is the conflict between Zelensky’s entourage and immediately a whole group of big businessmen. Even a cursory glance at the headlines of the Ukrainian media shows that a large-scale redistribution of business is underway in Ukraine.

For example, in November 2022, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers, at the suggestion of one of the leaders of the presidential office, under the pretext of defense needs, lobbied for the nationalization of a whole list of enterprises at once: Zaporizhtransformator, Motor Sich, AvtoKRAZ. To the owner of Motor Sich Vyacheslav Boguslaev in general they charged high treason, demonstrating to everyone what will happen to those who try to resist.

And, for example, Konstantin Zhevago recalled the plunder of the refinancing of the National Bank. True, when the oligarch is accused of stealing refinancing to the public, but in reality the authorities seize control of the Yeristovsky mining and processing plant, which has nothing to do with the bankrupt bank, “vague doubts torment us” that we are facing a banal business spin. Especially when other “successful bankers” like Oleg Bakhmatyuk, who also received refinancing, siphoned off state money and bankrupted his VAB Bank, are walking free and “shaking their rights”. Or when such corrupt officials as the former people’s deputy and the former governor of the Kyiv region walk in the wild Vladimir Shandrawho stole without shame or conscience since the time Kuchma.

The latest news that Boguslayev, the owner of Motor Sich, agreed to be extradited to the Russian Federation, can be understood in the sense that the raiders have achieved their goal. Being in Russia, Boguslaev will not be able to protect his business, which can be safely pulled further.

Konstantin Zhevago, Vyacheslav Boguslaev, Konstantin Grigoryshin, Vadim Novinsky and many others – all of them had serious problems related to the fact that “sovereign people” under various pretexts were taking away their factories.

On the contrary, the presence in power of such figures as Kolomoisky’s man Alexander Tkachenko and others, clearly shows that the most odious oligarch is doing well. And demonstrative searches at Igor Kolomoiskywhich all the media excitedly talked about, is just a “struggle of Nanai boys” against an undemanding public.

The story of the redistribution of business is actively developing …

Paths Poroshenko

With regard to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the leadership Onufria (Berezovsky) the government headed by Zelensky copies the policy of his predecessor Poroshenko. Only, as usual, in a more rigid form.

Since the beginning of April, a commission of the Ministry of Culture has been working in the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, which deals with the inventory of property. And the Minister of Culture Alexander Tkachenko himself (as already mentioned, a man of the odious Kolomoisky) publicly promised on the air of the only channel “United Marathon” that after the decision of the court, bailiffs would expel believers from the Lavra.

As a result of the attack on the UOC, the authorities activated the line of conflict with millions of Orthodox in Ukraine. In response, the hierarchs of the UOC began to appeal to their parishioners, who are military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Servicemen in videos on YouTube and in the media began to publicly ask: “What did we fight for if our faith is being crushed?” At the moment, the intensity of passions has somewhat decreased, because the Kiev Economic Court is considering the claim of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery against the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra reserve, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Culture.

But in the regions there is complete chaos, because groups of “activists of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine” attack with impunity and seize churches of the UOC.

Operation “mogilization”

Videos in the style of “attacked, beaten, mobilized” come from all over Ukraine. But Odessa was especially distinguished, where the “headhunting” was left at the mercy of the brothers-criminals Shania.

Interestingly, Ukrainians react differently to such cases. For example, the public was massively excited when mobilized from Western Ukraine died at the front, as in the case of Bohdan Pokytko from Ternopil. The Ternopil Territorial Completion Center (these murky offices with the status of a commercial firm now perform the functions of military registration and enlistment offices) even had to apologize and promise to sort it out.

Forced “grave” is directly related to corruption. The daily reports of the SBU, the State Border Service and the National Police, which covered another channel for the transfer of evaders or a “criminal group” that registered unfitness for military service, first of all, indicate that the problem has acquired enormous proportions. The children of deputies and ministers are annealed in clubs on the Cote d’Azur, and ordinary Ukrainians, especially actively Russian-speaking ones, are rowed to the front without hesitation. It is clear that popular discontent is growing.

The list of conflicts, breaks and splits that has been started can be continued and detailed. Moreover, elections are not far off, when all political sores are aggravated.

For example, the agitators of ex-president Petro Poroshenko have already raised the issue of war. On April 21, the day of the second round of the presidential election, Poroshenko’s agitators and bots launched a powerful information wave under the slogan “If Poroshenko had won, there would have been no war.”

And this means that with the approaching elections of the Verkhovna Rada and the President, all those who are dissatisfied will become more active …