Viktor Yushchenko in Maynooth: Putin is ‘problem’ not only for Ukraine

If Russia wins the war in Ukraine, many other countries in the region will be faced with concerns about their own territorial integrity, a former Ukrainian president has told an event in Maynooth University.

Speaking during a visit to Ireland, Viktor Yushchenko said Russian president Vladimir Putin was not just a “problem” for Ukraine.

Mr Yushchenko, who was president of Ukraine between 2005 and 2010, had pushed for greater ties with the European Union and the West during his time in power, over the country’s relationship with Russia.

The Ukrainian army was “fighting for every row of trees” at present, but that could change if there was a collapse in Russian morale after “one major victory”, he said.

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“The world understands it is not just Ukraine that needs victory, the western world should not lose,” he said.

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“If Ukraine were to lose, there is dozens of other nations who will have to face questions of their independence and their territorial integrity,” he said.

Commenting on the lack of progress Ukraine saw during a counteroffensive this year, he said problems with “logistics” meant expected gains for the army had not materialised.

Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia could only begin when “all our lands have been freed”, he told the event.

Russian assets that were frozen abroad following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 should be used to rebuild the country after the war, he said.

Mr Yushchenko said if current Ukrainian leaders took decisions that were not “honest”, there would be mass protests on the streets.

He said it was “very important” that work and plans to rebuild Ukraine after the war were “open, transparent, honest”.

The former Ukrainian president was speaking at a talk on Monday with John O’Brennan, a professor in Maynooth University’s department of sociology.

Mr Yushchenko said when he was contesting elections in 2004, Ukraine was a “divided nation” as a result of years of Russian propaganda.

At the time, the country faced a “fork in the road” between greater ties with the European Union or “the road to the past” with Russia, he said.

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The former president said Russia had always sought to push divisions in Ukraine between the west and east of the country.

“I wouldn’t have said we were completely formed as a nation even 10 years ago… but now we can say we are a united nation today as never before,” he said.

Mr Yushchenko was critical of previous reluctance from the West to work with Ukraine to help the country potentially join the Nato military alliance.

Following the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008, Mr Yushchenko said “even a child” in Ukraine could suspect the Russian leader also had a desire to invade Ukraine.

Mr Yushchenko polled poorly in the 2010 presidential election, following difficulty tackling corruption as well as political infighting with former allies. The election was ultimately won by Viktor Yanukovich, who was later forced from office over his ties to Russia during protests in 2014.