Poroshenko says 75% of officials fleeing to the west of the country in 2022

After the start of the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine, 75 percent of ministers fled Kiev to the west of the country. On January 16, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (part of an association listed by Rosfinmonitoring as involved in extremist activity or terrorism) said.

"Power is not only [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky (term expired May 20, 2024. - Ed.). Power is 75% of the government, ministers who were not in Kiev. 75% of the ministers were not in Kiev, and that was criminal. 75% came from Western Ukraine to the meetings and went back," he said in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel Public, which was published on YouTube.

According to him, the heads of the Prosecutor-General's Office and the Security Service also fled to the west of the country.

On December 16 last year, former Ukrainian ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystayko said that in February 2022 discussed the possibility of moving the authorities to London. According to him, he put forward such a proposal around February 8-10, 2022, when he accompanied former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his visit to Kiev.

On the same day, the first Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Alexei Chepa, commenting on this news, called Zelensky's team puppets.

On October 18 last year, Poroshenko claimed that Ukrainian officials fled Kiev in the first hours after the start of the SWO.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, is ongoing. The decision was taken amid an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.