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Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaks to reporters successful Warsaw, Poland, connected Sunday Jan. 16, 2021. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says helium is returning to Ukraine to combat treason charges adjacent though helium views them arsenic politically motivated. He says helium believes that warring them is portion of his defence of nationalist unity. (AP Photo/Piotr Molecki)

WARSAW – Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says helium is returning to Ukraine to combat treason charges — adjacent though helium views them arsenic politically motivated — due to the fact that helium believes that warring them is portion of his defence of nationalist unity.

Poroshenko spoke Sunday astatine a quality league successful Warsaw hours earlier helium is to alert Monday from the Polish superior to Kyiv, Ukraine, wherever helium is to look the allegations successful court.

A authoritative has alleged that Poroshenko, 1 of Ukraine's richest businessmen, was progressive successful the merchantability of ample amounts of ember that helped concern Russian-backed separatists successful eastbound Ukraine successful 2014-15. He is proprietor of the Roshen confectionery empire. The Kyiv tribunal has already frozen Poroshenko’s assets arsenic portion of its probe into the allegations of precocious treason.

Poroshenko insists that helium is innocent. He accuses his successor, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of seeking to discredit him politically to distract from Ukraine's wide problems, including economical woes and rising deaths from COVID-19.

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“I volition instrumentality to Ukraine to combat for Ukraine,” Poroshenko said, adding that helium considers warring the “politically motivated” charges to beryllium portion of his patriotic combat for the nation.

Despite the seriousness of the charges, Poroshenko seemed upbeat Sunday. When asked by a newsman if helium expects to beryllium arrested upon his instrumentality home, helium answered, “Definitely not.”

The charges are the latest successful a drawstring of accusations leveled against Poroshenko since helium was defeated by Zelenskyy successful 2019. The allegations person generated concerns of undemocratic score-settling successful Ukraine and besides alarmed Ukraine's allies. They travel arsenic Russia has built up troops on the Ukraine borderline and the United States has voiced concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin mightiness beryllium readying an penetration of Ukraine.

Poroshenko said helium sees charges helium faces arsenic harmful for the state astatine specified a time. He said Ukraine's enactment is liable for nationalist unity, and what “Russia is truly looking for is disintegration and struggle wrong the country.”

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“I deliberation this is simply a precise irresponsible enactment of the existent enactment to disintegrate the state and ruin the unity," helium said.

Poroshenko was defeated by voters pursuing a corruption ungraded and a mixed grounds connected reforms, but helium emerged with beardown credentials a patriot for his enactment successful rebuilding the Ukrainian service arsenic it fought Russian-backed insurgent fighters successful the east.

For his part, Zelenskyy says helium is waging a combat against oligarchs that is aimed astatine reducing their power successful Ukraine's governmental and economical life.

Poroshenko has been extracurricular of Ukraine for weeks, gathering with leaders successful Brussels, Berlin and different European capitals.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.