The mayor of Kyiv, ex-boxer Vitaly Klitschko, does not hold back when criticizing Zelensky.
It is a widely known fact that the relationship between Vitaly Klitschko and the Ukrainian president has been strained since the beginning of the latter's presidential term. The outbreak of the war did not change this, in fact: the fault lines deepened even more.
Zelenskyi has hinted several times that he would prefer to see the Kyiv mayor outside the gates of the city hall, but Klitschko doesn't close his mouth when asked about the president either.
In recent days, the first citizen of Kyiv gave several interviews, in which he also did not hide his opinion. Although he politely and diplomatically noted that everyone should help the president now, he also emphasized that after the war, all politicians will have to pay for their mistakes, and Zelensky is no exception.
Excessive presidential power
He went even further in his interview with Spiegel. As he said, Ukraine is increasingly becoming an authoritarian, authoritarian society , where the president sees mayors and local governments not as partners, but as obstacles to the centralization of power.
Beyond one point, we will be no different from Russia, where everything depends on the whim of a single person
- said Klitschko, emphasizing that he is not at all surprised by the decrease in the president's popularity.
“People can see exactly who is working efficiently and who is not. To this day, they cannot digest that the country was so unprepared for the war, that the Russians reached Kiev so quickly, just as they do not forget that Zelensky denied until the last moment that such a thing could happen.
- the mayor commented on the chaos of the period after the Russian attack, adding: in the first months, Ukraine was left practically without a leader, and it was only due to the measures of the mayors that the settlements did not suffer even greater human and material losses.
another interview , Klitschko spoke about the fact that the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army was telling the truth when he admitted the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. As he said, it was a serious mistake that the leadership in Kyiv almost called General Zaluzhnyi pro-Russian because of this, while Zelensky is as well aware of the facts as the army.
We can lie euphoric news to the people of Ukraine and our Western allies, but not indefinitely
- said the mayor of Kyiv.
Featured image: MTI/EPA/Andy Rain
