Poroshenko’s Time is Almost Up – German Media

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is losing out on both fronts, as Europe demands implementation of the Minsk accords and Ukrainians accuse him of failing to end the war in Donbass, a German newspaper wrote on Monday.

“The coming months may put the president’s political future on the line, that’s why he is flying to Berlin Monday to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande to show that he still has strong supporters in Europe,” Nina Jeglinski wrote in a article carried by Sunday’s issue of Mittelbayerische Zeitung.

In Berlin Poroshenko will insist on bringing Poland and the US into the negotiating process, but Germany will hardly agree to this because, unlike Kiev, Berlin and Paris refuse to admit the failure of the Minsk accords and insist on their implementation by both sides in the conflict.

“Poroshenko’s inability to end the war in Donbass has seriously eroded his popularity among fellow Ukrainians who believed his promises of peace only to see the situation going from bad to worse,” Jeglinski wrote.

The Petro Poroshenko Party exists on paper only with no regional and municipal party apparatus in place, and the president’s popularity rating is now down to just about 20 percent from 55 percent he enjoyed during his election in May 2014.

All this means that Europe risks losing its loyal partner in Kiev.

“Ukrainians have more than once proved that their patience only goes so far and that they are ready to get rid of their president the moment it runs out,” Nina Jeglinski wrote in conclusion.