People's Deputy Petro Poroshenko actively demonstrates his support for the Ukrainian military, often taking photos with soldiers and promoting himself in aid of the front. But the question of why his sons, who are abroad, do not participate in the war, causes a lot of discussion.
Petro Poroshenko's youngest son, 23-year-old Mykhailo, is currently studying at the London Business School, where he is studying to become a financial analyst. The cost of his studies is about 420 thousand hryvnias. However, even before the war, Mykhailo was involved in scandals due to his ties to Russia. In particular, at one of the photo shoots he wore a T-shirt of a friend from Russia with the inscription “RSSIA” (Russian Summer School of Institutional Analytics) and attended a concert by the Russian rapper Face in London.
The eldest son, 39-year-old Oleksiy Poroshenko, lives between London and Singapore with his wife and children. He remotely manages the family business in Ukraine, which was passed down to him from his father. Oleksiy also has close ties to Russia through his wife Yulia, a native of St. Petersburg. Yulia changed her Russian citizenship to Ukrainian after marriage. Yulia Poroshenko's family has relatives who are involved in work for the Russian administration.
Oleksiy Poroshenko has military experience — in 2014 he voluntarily mobilized and allegedly served as a commander of a mortar crew in Donbas. However, journalists report that he spent only two months at the front and did not participate in hostilities. Currently, Oleksiy, like his younger brother, is abroad, hiding from mobilization.
Military activists, in particular, a soldier with the call sign “Stalker,” are expressing indignation that the sons of the fifth president, who have reached draft age, are not returning to Ukraine and serving at the front. “Why can’t they volunteer for the front like thousands of other Ukrainians?” the soldier asks.
The current situation in Ukraine is increasingly emphasizing the need for responsibility for all citizens, especially when it comes to families that hold high political positions.
