Ukraine’s president holds rally ahead of key TV debate

The 53-year-old Poroshenko, who is trailing in opinion polls, called a rally of several thousand people in the capital before debating comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is widely popular for playing a Ukrainian president fighting corruption in a popular TV sitcom. (File photo: Петро Порошенко/Facebook)

KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rallied his supporters in Kyiv Friday in a last-ditch attempt to keep his job, hours ahead of a nationally televised debate against the challenger who is expected to beat him in the presidential runoff.

The 53-year-old Poroshenko, who is trailing in opinion polls, called a rally of several thousand people in the capital before debating comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is widely popular for playing a Ukrainian president fighting corruption in a popular TV sitcom.

The debate at the country’s largest soccer stadium will mark the first campaign face-off between the rivals. More than 60,000 people are expected to attend the debate and thousands of police officers have been posted to the stadium to ensure security.

Ukrainian police reported a major gridlock around Kyiv on Friday as thousands of supporters of both candidates were bused into the capital.

Poroshenko warned supporters who gathered at the Maidan, the central square that was the heart of Ukraine’s 2014 opposition protests, that a victory in Sunday’s presidential runoff for Zelenskiy would derail the country’s course for integration into the European Union.

He charged that Zelenskiy would be a weak president, to the benefit of Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 and has backed separatist rebels in Ukraine’s east ever since.

“By no means do we think that our opponent is a Kremlin agent but (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is dreaming of a weak and ill-prepared novice,” Poroshenko said in a hoarse voice. “Putin is dreaming of chaos.”

The Ukrainian leader said a five-year presidency of a country of 45 million people is “not a comedy show that can be turned off.”

Poroshenko’s supporters marched to the sports stadium for the debate following the rally.

Lyudmila Soloveyko, a 56-year-old schoolteacher who went to the rally, said she’s grateful to Poroshenko for “opening the door to Europe for Ukrainians.”

That refers to a decision by the EU to scrap visas for travelling Ukrainians, which Poroshenko had lobbied for.

Zelenskiy, 41, has eschewed a traditional political campaign, touring the country with his comedy show instead. In his rare interviews, he has pledged to continue the push for close ties with the EU and NATO but also spoke out for more active efforts to reintegrate the rebels in the east back into Ukraine’s fold.

Zelenskiy’s supporters scoffed at the president’s claim that the actor would be easy prey for the Kremlin and pointed at the economic woes and corruption during Poroshenko’s time at the helm.

“We have got tired of the old politicians who are good at nothing but talk,” said 54-year-old sales clerk Yevgenia Ostroshitskaya. “Life only has been getting worse. Let Zelenskiy give it a try, he has done it well in the movies.”

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Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed to this report from Moscow.