“The coronavirus pandemic in Ukraine has sped up the revanche in Ukraine, its readiness to demonstrate its strength and readiness to carry out reprisals with everyone who defended the country from the criminal regime of [Viktor] Yanukovych and Russian aggression.
“People warned about this revanche in 2019, when Volodymyr Zelenskyy won the presidential election and his party, Servant of the People, won the parliamentary election. Participants in the Maidan who supported the new president, worked for his election, became national deputies, ministers and bureaucrats, didn’t want to believe in this revanche.
“Now, the same charges that have been brought against Tetiana Chornovol can be brought against anyone. Today – Chornovol. Tomorrow – [Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen] Avakov. The day after – any deputy from Servant of the People who participated in the Maidan. And afterwards – to the supporters of the party. For the revanche, everyone is the same.
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not the head of this revanche. He is its tool. The revanchists needed a weak and ineffectual president, who won’t prevent them from forming a power vertical and begin an offensive against Ukraine, organizing that very same ‘civil conflict’ about which Vladimir Putin is dreaming, turn the society against the government, and make it easier for Russia to occupy new territory. The Kremlin will need to distract Russians in times of economic crisis. Why not with war against Ukraine? …”
– Ukrainian political analyst and journalist Vitaliy Portnikov, writing on the espresso.tv website on April 10. (The translation above is by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing.)