Following the impeachment of Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, a brief interim government presided until a snap election in late May. Upon the election, official leadership was passed to Petro Poroshenko, a chameleon in Ukrainian politics. As stated in “An overview of Ukrainian politics part one,” which can be found at www.since1872.ca: “Since its independence, the main point of political strife in Ukraine has been its relationship with Russia and whether to form close ties with their neighbor, or to nationalize.” But, Poroshenko has affiliations with both ideologies.
Poroshenko co-founded the pro-Russia Party of Regions in late 2000, upon a merger of political parties that included Poroshenko’s Party of Solidarity which he had established a few months earlier. However, in early 2001, Poroshenko left the Party of Regions and revamped the Party of Solidarity which joined Viktor Yushchenko’s electoral bloc, the Party of Regions’ opposition. Poroshenko held a prominent position in Yushchenko’s electoral campaign, and following their success, Yushchenko’s government. Poroshenko reassociated himself with the Party of Regions during its resurgence and would hold prominent positions in Yanukovych’s government as well. Upon being elected president of Ukraine, though, Poroshenko signed the 2013 agreement with the European Union that Yanukovych had skirted from and worked toward further integration with the EU.
The Minsk protocols emerged later that year. The leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, and Russia met in September and February of the following year to discuss an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Amongst the conditions of the agreements were: an immediate ceasefire, border monitoring by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the release of hostages and prisoners of war. The agreements also outlined a path to economic and humanitarian recovery of the Donbas region, and to peace that would last. Unfortunately, both Minsk I and Minsk II failed.
While a significant part of Poroshenko’s campaign had focused on transparency and ridding the government of internal corruption, mistrust for the government continued to brew, and it was in this environment that the politically charged show called Servant of the People aired, starring current President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a history teacher turned president after a video of him ranting about the corruption in the government goes viral.
Zelenskyy studied law at Kyiv National Economic University and though he received his license to practice, Zelenskyy took a different path to the world of politics. Zelenskyy and his schoolmates created the comedy group Kvartal 95 and appeared on the popular comedy show KVN in 1997. They became regulars on the show until 2003, when they co-founded an extremely successful production company in their name. Kvartal 95 engaged and continues to engage in political satire. The group calls out abuses of power and corruption in the government. Due to their transparency with politics, the comedy group is banned from performing in Russia and the television series Servant of the People is also banned in Russia. In 2018, a party titled Servant of the People was officially registered in Ukraine, and the following year, Zelenksyy dominated the polls, securing the presidency.
The Minsk protocols were revisited in October 2019, when Zelenskyy agreed to using the process outlined in the Steinmeier formula to un-stagnate the diplomatic progress between Ukraine and Russia. The Steinmeier formula presented a pathway back to the terms of the ineffective Minsk agreements by holding elections in the “separatist-held” territories of eastern Ukraine. The elections would follow Ukrainian legislation and would be overseen by the OSCE. If the election was considered fair and truthful, the territories would gain a special governing status, and Ukraine would regain control of their border. This was a controversial decision as nationalists regarded it as a concession to Russia, but Zelenskyy stressed that the elections would only take place after russian troops withdrew from the region and after Ukraine regained the border. In December 2019, Zelenskyy met with President Macron of France, German Chancellor Merkel, and Putin at a summit in Paris, France, to rework the insufficient Minsk agreements, but a resolution was not found, and the conflict continued to escalate.
On February 21, 2022, Putin gave an address, acknowledging the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic in occupied Ukraine as independent states, and began deploying troops to the region. The following day, Putin declared the Minsk protocols invalid, and on the morning of February 24, Putin announced the pursuit of a “special military operation” in eastern Ukraine, stating, “the people’s republics in Donbas have asked Russia for help.” That evening, Zelenksyy addressed the country, sharing that he was unable to contact Putin, but if the two countries truly stood at the precipice of war, Ukraine would not go quietly, and they have not. Since that night, Zelensky has addressed his country every day. For three years, approximately 1000 consecutive days, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine has shown his people that he is still fighting and that Ukraine still stands. His addresses can be found at www.president.gov.ua.
