“Sheer patriotism will not help”

“The fact that Ukraine has at last ratified the EU Association Agreement is an extremely important step,” Mr. Hrytsiak says. “This should have been done long ago, for Europe is our strategic, national, and I would say even somewhat civilizational direction of development. God grant that we pass this road as fast as possible and never turn back… It should have been ratified immediately and fully in spite of the blows our economy may take because of this at a certain stage. But, owing to some under-the-carpet games, Petro Poroshenko has been delaying this step up to now. We must remember that Moscow will never accept peacefully our union alliance with Europe. It is an axiom. When Yanukovych was ‘feeding’ Ukrainians with promises to live with the EU, Putin kept silent and grinned because he knew very well that this would not happen. It is clear to everybody now that he had made a deal with Yanukovych. Quite expectedly, our ‘guarantor’ ran away to no other place than Russia. And today, not extraditing this criminal to Ukraine and having recognized our new government, the Kremlin is showing its stupidity to the entire world.”

Mr. Hrytsiak, what do you think of the passage of a law on special status of the Donbas? Can this forced step of our government settle the conflict at least partially?

“Not at all. Things are very bad with the Donbas. The state is shaky today, and all these new attempts to play up to bandits in the east are only complicating the situation. It will be not enough for Putin to have a part of the Donbas and this ‘special status.’ Having suffered heavy losses, terrorists would be glad to live in this format of ‘special status.’

“They would get legitimized quickly by being elected to local councils and would go on terrorizing, step by step, the Ukrainian government with new ‘demands’ and calls to heeded – at our expense to boot. I mean these bandits might agree to have the conflict frozen in this format, but it is not enough for Putin.  He will go further. I am convinced that all these ‘special statuses’ are temporary arrangements for him and they will in no way resolve the problem. Putin has a different plan – to make Ukraine a steppingstone to Europe. I don’t know why Europe is still unaware of this. And if it is aware but reacting so slowly, it is a [death] sentence for all of us.

“The ‘imperial bacillus,’ which dwells in the head of the Kremlin leadership, dreams of seizing the entire world. Just like this. Putin is capable of this, for he has buffed up ‘muscles’ in the past few years – the nuclear bomb and methods of its speedy delivery to any nook and cranny of the world. So, let me say it again: unfortunately, I   don’t think that Ukrainian attempts to freeze the conflict in the east by way of some particular concessions, such as special status, will resolve the problem. We are told today about some ‘Minsk accords…’ Putin has shown that he doesn’t care a fig about dozens of much more serious international treaties because he remains unpunished.

“Indeed, the situation is extremely difficult today, but it may become a turning point to some extent. Petro Poroshenko’s ‘peace plan’ does not work. The enemy is taking advantageous positions, regrouping his forces, getting ready for an attack, and killing our guys, whereas we are just waiting. Clearly, we don’t have the required military capacity, but a plan of surrender is not a way out. Therefore, we can only win today by    way of rational actions on all the fronts – military, diplomatic, and informational.”

An election campaign is underway in Ukraine. In spite of the war, parliament candidates are competing in crowd-pleasing rhetoric above all instead of offering clear-cut programs to ride out the crisis…

“Unfortunately, populism is running too high. Ukraine badly needs a new parliament. The Maidan also demanded this. But it would be better to elect MPs by new rules – on the basis of open lists. Instead, the current MPs cheated us again, alleging that they have no time to pass a new election law. And we will again elect a pig in a poke. Even the ‘bared’ part of the lists scares me – either old people or flag-waving patriots. For example, I highly respect the Ukrainian military who have displayed conspicuous heroism in the east. But everybody should be at his own place. Sheer patriotism will not help us.”