Former Ukrainian president says country can ‘never forgive’ Russia for war

Exclusive: Petro Poroshenko tellsThe Independent Ukraine needs continued help from the west and says Vladimir Putin should be sentenced for being a war criminal

Back in 2014, after winning the Ukrainian presidential election, Petro Poroshenko didn’t see any reason for Russian president Vladimir Putin to launch a war against Ukraine.

Mr Poroshenko led the country through the first phase of the war in the Donbas. Eight years on, he sees no reason at all for Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine.

“I think Putin’s behaviour is completely crazy,” the man who served as the fifth president of Ukraine (from 2014 to 2019) tells The Independent from central Kyiv.