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Ukraine beginning to fall apart, says country’s first president

Leonid Kravchuk believes that root-cause of the situation is found in the systemic errors made by successive Ukrainian governments over the past twenty years

KIEV, January 22. /TASS/. Ukraine begins to fall apart and blame for this goes to the Ukrainian elites that adhere to an irresponsible position, the country’s first President, Leonid Kravchuk, told reporters on Thursday.

“The elite is disunited today and its factions are feuding over God only knows what,” he said. “In reality, members of the elite don’t have responsibility in the face of the threat looming over Ukraine, and this threat is extremely high and realistic.”

“Even today, on a holiday (Day of Unification), I can say the state is beginning to fall apart and this is already a proven fact,” Kravchuk said. “We must speak about it like real grown-up people.”

He believes that root-cause of the situation is found in the systemic errors made by successive Ukrainian governments over the past twenty years.

“Did anyone of the presidents ever do anything to assure freedom and unity?” he said. “Did anyone do anything tangible for Donbas? Who understood Crimea in earnest and cared for it properly?”

“And now they want us to do something within a couple of days,” Kravchuk said. “But we won’t manage anything within such a brief period.”

The way he sees the situation, the granting of broad powers to the regions might offer a clue to untangling the crisis. “Let’s stop speaking about what the Constitution will look like, let’s get down to giving the broadest possible powers to the regions,” he said.

Incumbent President, Petro Poroshenko said in an appeal on the occasion of the Day of Unification earlier he ruled out the possibility of turning the country into a federation.

“The vast majority of Ukrainians see their country as a unitary, not a federated state,” he claimed.