«They will hunt you down, Vova!»: Ihor Lapin on the fate of the authorities, Trump’s trap, and wartime corruption

We know what to do with life in Ukraine. But we do not know who will do it. That is the whole problem. Armistice and whether agreements with Russia can be trusted at all. Putin’s real goals and what he wants from Ukraine. «Carthage», Zelenskyy and his political future — whether he will remain in power, whether he will go to the elections, and what will generally happen to Ukrainian politics after the war.

The people upon whom the implementation of crucial decisions for Ukraine currently depends often have entirely different interests. And while the country tries to survive, the authorities continue their life with their own money, influence, and political calculations.

Journalists from UA.News spoke about this with political analyst, observer, and military officer Ihor Lapin, without any attempt to make Ukrainian realities more palatable. The conversation turned out to be sharp, at times even uncomfortable. That is how conversations about war should be: real, without soothing phrasing or attempts to please — which is why the discussion was honest.

Below is Ihor Lapin’s direct speech.

Today, Ukraine lives off external loans, donations, and its own resources. If we intend to keep fighting this war, we must fundamentally change our approach to spending money. We need to eliminate all populist programs, scrap the «United News Telethon» — which nobody watches anyway — and reduce the number of government officials.

We are promised a downsizing of the administrative apparatus, but down this road, we have only saved money on paper. Honcharuk’s government already «downsized»: they cut 19 ministries down to 15, and then inflated them back up to 20. In reality, all the exempted (reserved) and happy apparatus officials — including those officially tied to the Bakhmut or Mariupol city councils — continue sitting on full salaries and social benefits paid out of our pockets. They are even running tenders over there. No private business owner whose facility has ceased operations would keep staff on the payroll. Yet the state, in this situation, is somehow expected to be a sucker (play the deer). Though this is done purely to preserve administrative leverage for Zelenskyy's team.

Due to a $27 billion budget hole, capital expenditure is being suspended. The construction company «Autostrada» is halting work, leaving 8.5 thousand people without a salary. Sitting here as a military officer, I reflect: 8.5 thousand citizens is almost a full brigade. They are both unemployed and exempt from service. How does that make sense?

Or consider the metallurgical plants that the Russians destroyed. Journalists wrote about 15,000 workers — another 5 brigades of exempted personnel. If the goal is to retain specialists for future reconstruction, that is one thing. But if a plant is bombed out and isn't being restored, what happens to those people? It is the same with officials from lost territorial communities: why on earth pay them from the state budget when they aren't doing a damn thing?

Of course, we won't save all $27 billion on officials, nor will we immediately mobilize five new brigades. But this is the direction we must look in. Naturally, keeping a metallurgist for a survival economy is more important than keeping a football player. Especially given how our football players play — bloody hell, they’d be better off shooting.

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych tells us how badly we need money, and Ursula von der Leyen replies directly to him: we have €37 billion available for Ukraine in this calendar year. But, damn it, you actually have to vote on the laws that we ourselves committed to passing!

There are €37 billion sitting in Europe, but instead of passing the 80 accumulated bills, our MPs went off to work «god knows where» — allegedly in committees — until the 13th. And then Zelenskyy comes out and talks about what scoundrels the MPs are for not voting. Classic: the tsar is good, the boyars are bad, urine in the pants, empty pockets. Instead of thinking about where else to squander funds, maybe it's better to simply fulfill our commitments and vote for the laws? The money will appear immediately.

A coin has two sides, but let’s talk about its edge — tax hikes. All tax initiatives right now press strictly on white-market businesses that are already conscientiously paying. What do we do about the grey and black markets, and about smuggling? Hetmantsev recently pointed out an interesting thing: the iPhone 18 isn't even on sale yet, but it's already being sold in Ukraine. That says it all. We can cross swords for a long time, declare yet another customs reform, invite Western partners to hold competitions to select «honest specialists»…

Let me give you an example from 2014. Do you know how smuggling was stopped on Volyn for a whole week? It simply vanished. At the intersection of the Kovel–Yagodin highway near Liuboml, I parked my jeep with an «Aidar» flag. Right next to it, the new police chief posted two patrol officers. Sitting inside the jeep were veterans and acquaintance ex-smugglers. The police’s job was simple: stop only what the guys pointed out.

I report to you: the queue of vans and cars loaded with contraband on the Polish side stretched all the way to the settlement of Brzeźno, several kilometers long. And nobody moved, at all. My phone was ringing off the hook from people I couldn't have even imagined, asking: «Ihor Oleksandrovych, when are you going to move the vehicle from the intersection?» And I wasn't even physically there; only the vehicle with the flag was standing there.

Want to bring order to smuggling? Take a specialist who knows inside out how it is transported. Hire a smuggler, I’m serious. That is a real mechanism for combating grey-market business.

Now they are proposing to raise VAT by 1% for everyone and hand out cashback, or insure businesses against war risks. I drove from Lutsk to Kyiv — not a single gas station has anti-drone netting. Yet they handed out money from the budget for «eBak» not to support people, but to support oil traders.

Taking taxes from honest people to hand out money to everyone indiscriminately is a «great» story. Then it turns out Yulia Tymoshenko receives a thousand-hryvnia cashback. As a military pensioner, I would be ashamed to take such a thing, but MPs do not disdain it. Stefanchuk pulled a PR stunt: he took this cashback and transferred it to United24 with the words, «I donated money for drones». Damn it, you didn't donate your own money; you just acted as a middleman between the tax office and drone manufacturers at the expense of «Vova’s thousand»!

MP Pipa, Tyshchenko, the wives of Arakhamia and other people's deputies — all receive social assistance from the budget. And this is despite the fact that every MP receives over 270,000 UAH per month in total, combining salary, housing rent, transport, and allowance for powers! Ordinary people pool together 10–30 hryvnias for volunteers, while millionaires in the Verkhovna Rada take the «spring thousand». And then we complain about the budget deficit. I showed where this money could simply not be squandered.

In America, Trump declared that CNN and CBS are liars and that he wouldn't give them interviews. Even Republican-leaning Fox News responded with solidarity toward their colleagues for the sake of free speech and began ignoring Trump. When he attacked photographers, they started printing a black square instead of his face. That is a working democracy and working institutions.

Yet in our country, imagining solidarity from «1+1» or «Inter» with «Channel Five» or «Espreso» — which were disconnected from digital broadcasting — is simply impossible. Meanwhile, spending on the «United News Telethon» is not being cut, police salaries and staff counts are being raised, but nobody cares to think about the military. There is your budget hole.

When they voted on the budget, everyone was told about the hole. But they voted anyway, because it’s necessary, right? Well, it’s necessary. But who will bear responsibility? The MPs, who haven't borne any responsibility — including political responsibility — for eight years. They will continue working until this war ends. And do they want to end this war today, while receiving 270–280 thousand UAH plus every month and raking in cashbacks?

There is a hole in the budget, the dollar exchange rate is fluctuating. And what do we think about doing? How about we stop writing the dollar exchange rate on currency exchange boards? Let Ukrainian citizens be dumb... excuse me, idiots. Why do they need to know what the exchange rate is at the exchange booth? Walk in and ask. Does that stabilize the economy? They do the exact same thing by making the number of missiles launched by Russians a state secret. A secret from whom? From the enemy? Absurd — the enemy already knows how many they launched. But our people shouldn't know, because it will cause panic. They don't need to know that a war will start — let them marinate shashlik, and then die in Bucha, shot in the back of the head.

Where do we get money for the budget? First, stop all this populism: «spring thousands», telethons, and all this social crap that has nothing to do with supporting people. Second, the reduction of the army of officials must not be just in words. All officials from territories we currently do not control are unemployed people who should go work in the national economy, and those subject to mobilization should go and get mobilized. Then there will be real cost reductions.

In foreign policy, we must convince Western partners that this is an investment in their security, not charity for us. What have our diplomats been doing since 2022? Everyone understood the need to help, but today «Alternative for Germany» says it won't help, French oppositionists accuse Ukraine, and Trump says diesel is expensive because of us. Zelenskyy asks Trump to influence Xi Jinping so that he pressures Putin. What mechanisms and contacts in China have you built during your years of presidency? You failed everything that could possibly be failed, and now you are asking someone to ask on your behalf! And this is against the backdrop of safes full of cash and a Prosecutor General who calmly flees the country, after which he is «heroically» dismissed.

Tax increases hit only those who pay. For the grey market, it creates opportunities to earn more. We need to order our payout system: in our country, a 35-year-old prosecutor is a pensioner receiving over 200,000 in pension. All these Khmelnytskyi prosecutors with fake disability certificates caused direct financial damage to the state. They were dismissed, thrown out — but why aren't they in prison? When there is justice, people will lose the motive to think about evading taxes. Where can we find concrete money? Over a billion UAH is sitting in unclaimed bail money left by various scoundrels. Check the origin of that money — you’ll be stunned by how much of it was never earned honestly.

The same applies to relatives' property. When a poor official’s wife or pensioner mother becomes a successful businesswoman, that constitutes money laundering. Where are the criminal cases and asset seizures against the family of MP Klochko? Our entire problem is that every new administration starts thinking not about how to return stolen assets to the state, but how to seize them from the old administration and re-register them under their own names. Why haven't SBI investigators been brought to justice who, following a court ruling, «forgot» to enter the seizure of Medvedchuk’s property into the database, allowing it to be transferred to others two days later? These are the real questions where money and accountability are hiding.

There is an endless amount of cash in this country. The investigative bodies, the prosecutor's office, and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) simply lack the balls (Faberge). And NACP, NABU, and SAPO have no fewer problems. They sit around investigating a case for 10 years, and then complain about their operational difficulties: «Oh, the Lozovyi amendments are hindering us!» Are you serious? You write that a criminal organization is operating, and some Pronin from Financial Monitoring isn't responding to requests? Has the Criminal Code stopped working for NABU? Why isn't Pronin being charged in the same case as an accomplice concealing a crime? That’s Article 256 — assisting members of criminal organizations! It should be drawn right on his forehead. Issue a notice of suspicion against him, freeze his assets, and all the answers will appear instantly!

But no, they engage in onanism for 10 years, and then ask to repeal the Lozovyi amendments so they can terrorize citizens for the rest of their lives. That is the path to a police state where the investigator decides everything. Security forces must earn their high salaries, and Pronin needs to be sent to the collective farm — along with Mudra, Mykytas, and Kiril Alekseyevich.

The whole country knows who «Vova from Dynastiya» or «Chief Andreyevich» is in the «Carthage» case. But NABU doesn't know! They just watch «Chief Andreyevich» drive across the border at two in the morning and wave a handkerchief. They demonstratively climbed over a fence, conducted searches, showed photos of cash from a safe, and let it go. That was a pure backroom deal.

Let’s recall the escape of Prosecutor General Kravchenko. He had two «bulletproof vests». First: a financial cushion around the world, all the way to the Emirates. Second: criminal cases against MPs and Arakhamia, for which he simply refused to sign procedural documents for NABU. The MPs didn't harass Kravchenko, and he kept them on the hook.

Kravchenko was preparing attacks on NABU and SAPO to remove Semen Kryvonos via criminal proceedings and bring the system entirely under his own control. But NABU outmaneuvered him, though they later comfortably «slept on it» and let him escape.

On September 7, Zelenskyy met with NABU and SAPO, who briefed him on Kravchenko. On that same day, the President summoned Kravchenko and Arakhamia. Kravchenko said he was writing a resignation letter. But Zelenskyy did not suspend him on the 7th, nor on the 8th of September. He waited a whole week, until Monday, on the eve of the parliamentary vote.

During this time, Kravchenko dismissed his deputy Vdovychenko — and she took off. He sent his wife packing on the run, who faces charges for money laundering. Then he recorded a video, issued himself an official business trip, got into an official car, and calmly skipped the country. Poroshenko’s border guards weren't allowed out over a phone call, but the prosecutor drove through without any obstacles. And only on Monday did Zelenskyy step out, puffing up his unshaven cheeks powerfully, and say: «I am suspending him.» Naturally, because the man was already safe.

Now Kravchenko will sit in Vienna assuring everyone of «political pressure» from the President, and no Austrian authority will extradite him. Until Ukraine creates its own «Mossad» or hires private military companies to bring such fugitives back in car trunks, none of them will feel the inevitability of punishment.

Furthermore, Kravchenko left in an official car. He is no longer Prosecutor General — where is the car? Has the article on vehicle theft been repealed?

Zelenskyy promised to equate wartime corruption with high treason. For military personnel, responsibility was raised immediately, and allies of the «Servants» like Bezuhla even proposed summary executions on the spot. But what about corrupt officials? Did they deal with them? No. That’s where our money is! If the new Prosecutor General still hasn't signed notices of suspicion for those 60 MPs that all the insider channels were buzzing about, it means he is perfectly fine with it. Cases regarding envelopes exist, plea bargains exist, but notices of suspicion do not.

I could provide hundreds and thousands of such examples — nothing will change. This administration does not intend to live in Ukraine. If the front holds — the «Servants», realizing they will be hunted down by those who come next, will take their financial cushion and skip the country. Because no one will forgive them for so much spilled blood.

If the front collapses — realizing that the Russian will arrive, confiscate everything, and execute them, they will likewise grab their cash and skip out.

You have to be very naive to think they plan to live alongside us — whether under the Russians or under a new government. So they can puff up their cheeks and leave their stubble unshaven all they want. They act this way because they see no future for themselves in this country. And while the war goes on and there are no elections, they will calmly keep robbing the country, receiving their cashbacks and «Vova’s thousand».

Money in the state will appear as soon as the rule of law appears. Western businesses are ready to invest in Ukraine, but they aren't doing so not just because of the war, but because of the absence of law. The Europeans opened the first candidacy cluster for us and said: «Here is 37 billion, but give us the rule of law.» And what kind of damn rule of law is there if Zelenskyy engages in extrajudicial retribution through his NSDC sanctions? Under the law, sanctions cannot be applied against Ukrainian citizens within the country. But it's his toy. What investor will come here when the country is run manually?

I am interested not so much in the fugitive Kravchenko as in the new Prosecutor General. He still hasn't signed the notice of suspicion for Arakhamia. Meaning the «bulletproof vest» in the form of loyal MPs required for parliamentary votes simply passed as an inheritance from Kravchenko to the new Prosecutor General. And if NABU and SAPO continue to sleep on the job — everything will stay as it is.

NABU knows who «Chief Andreyevich» is, who «Vova from Dynastiya» is, who «Kiril Alekseyevich» is. And what, are you waiting for them to flee too? They haven't lifted a finger!

When a 150 million UAH bail was posted for Yermak, nobody in NABU cared about the origin of the money. Not a single criminal case was opened against the shell companies and their directors who signed those payment orders. And now they are raising a fuss over other bails. It’s laughable.

Trump lives in his imaginary world, the unidentified «Vova from Dynastiya» in his, and we live in the real one. Putin played Trump like a sucker, convincing him that this is a war over territories. And Zelenskyy with his diplomats started running around proving: «No, Donetsk, Crimea, and Kursk oblast are our land, we won't give them up!» That's it — they swallowed the bait.

If you are sitting at a card table and after five minutes you don't know who the sucker is, sorry, the sucker is you. Trump and Putin are «talking business» about territories, and our people fell for it.

Russia doesn't need Kramatorsk or Sloviansk specifically. They need the whole of Ukraine, but as a territory without Ukrainians. This is an existential war for the survival of the nation! And when our politicians tell Trump about mineral resources and ancient history — that is complete nonsense.

Why didn't Putin start a full-scale war in 2014? Because he believed he could reach an agreement. He thought he could reach an agreement with Zelenskyy too. But he miscalculated one thing: when Zelenskyy went to the Normandy format meeting in 2019, the Capitulation Resistance Movement gathered on Maidan and clearly stated: «If you sign some crap over there, you can fly straight to Rostov.»

Remember how Surkov hysterically threw documents at Yermak, screaming «We didn't agree to this!»? Because Vova was genuinely terrified. He feared nothing in his life as much as Maidan. And to prevent any more Maidans, Zelenskyy today brought back those very same «specialists» in clearing out protests into power.

Trump thinks like a realtor: «Buy-sell, why are you fighting over that piece of land? Give Putin Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, and there will be peace.» And Putin tells Trump directly: «If they hand them over — that will only be a pretext to talk about peace. But let them also give up Zaporizhzhia, create a sanitary zone out of Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv, and Odessa is an ancient Russian city anyway.»

He will only start talking after we surrender fortresses without a fight and keep surrendering everything else. And Zelenskyy fell for this crap and is now making excuses to Trump. Even though Putin's true goal is the complete destruction of Ukraine and the placement of his puppet government here.

Putin used to think that we were «one people», just a bit defective as Russians. And if the right Yanukovych or the right Zelenskyy sat in Kyiv, we would be remade, and everyone would realize we are the same Russians. But when we started punching them in the face near Kyiv, in Sumy, and Kherson regions, he changed his plans. He no longer wants to turn us into «good Russians». He wants to destroy us. That is what the war is about! Not about Donetsk, Sloviansk, or Kramatorsk. Even Zelenskyy now says — perhaps he watches Lapin’s channel — that if we give up Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Putin will keep digging further toward Poltava, because there are no fortified areas there. No! Not toward Poltava and not over territories! He will dig to ensure there are no Ukrainians left here at all.

And Trump, with the spirit of Anchorage, is trapped in this same foolish story. His «peace plan» points state that Ukraine commits not to reconquer territories. They consider this peace? A peace agreement is the finalization of war outcomes, recognition of new borders, lifting of sanctions against Russia, and absence of mutual claims. Which Zelenskyy will sign on paper that Crimea is Russia? Well, people will breathe a sigh of relief for half a day, and then they will screw him for high treason. So what «peace agreement» are we even talking about?

While three powerful men live in their imaginary worlds, you and I live in the real one. Zelenskyy believes that an «energy armistice» will help us survive the winter. Want me to explain on my fingers what kind of armistice that will be?

The Russians are currently scaling up «Shahed» production, building a new underground «Alabuga» to churn out 500 drones a day, plus increasing the production of fiber optics and ballistics.

Now imagine: we agree to an energy armistice. Grain flows, oil flows from the open tap at $110–120 per barrel. Putin is doing great! In two months of quiet, he stockpiles several thousand drones and hundreds of ballistic missiles, stretches anti-drone netting over all his refineries, and calmly restores his air defenses.

Christmas passes, January comes, minus 10 degrees freezing weather. And suddenly some drone painted in blue and yellow colors accidentally «falls» in Belgorod. Putin says: «Ukraine broke the armistice», and several thousand drones hit us in a single salvo. In the bitterest cold! We have no Patriots left, nobody put up netting over gas stations, thermal power plants remained the same Soviet hulks because the government decided to prepare for winter in December. And what will we do? Respond with a dozen drones against their nets in Moscow?

Yet right now we have pinpointed Putin's Koshchei's needle! We found that egg where it lies, and we are smashing it! We are destroying his refineries one by one, sinking his shadow fleet, hurting his oil and gasoline supplies, flying all the way to the Baltic, Urengoy, and the Yamal Cross, reaching the gas transportation system going to China. He is in a panic, his revenues are dropping! And at this very moment we are told: «Oh, let's have an energy armistice, but hey, you'll have lights on in your house, damn it!». Well, today the light is on, but after New Year's it will be extinguished along with the country.

If we simply want to survive the winter — that's one story. But Ihor Lapin wants to defeat Russia. If we want to have a piece of bread today, tomorrow we won't have either bread or freedom. That is all.

Trump is looking for someone to blame for expensive diesel in America and assigns guilt to our long-range strikes against Russia. Macron's oppositionists spout similar absurdity: allegedly, the threat of an RF attack on the European Union arose because Ukrainians are striking the Russian rear. To what level of insanity have these idiots agreed among themselves?

Ursula von der Leyen tells Zelenskyy: «Dude, you have 37 billion sitting in Europe. Vote for the laws on the rule of law and take the money!». And ours sits and whines: «We need another 27!». But you haven't taken these 37 yet, and the financial year is ending! Force the MPs to slave away 24/7 without leaving the floor. But they went off to hang out until the 13th, only to later receive their thousand in cashback or social assistance.

And Putin honestly plays Trump like a fool: «Donnie, as soon as they hand over the territories, I'll sit at the table and a pretext to speak about peace will appear». He doesn't guarantee peace; he speaks of a pretext for negotiations! And these people, like dim-witted sheep, fall for the idea that there will be peace.

Instead of demanding a total ceasefire, we move within the Kremlin's narrative, as if one can negotiate under the roar of cannons. If Putin violates the armistice with the very first shot, we must clearly tell the West: «We wanted to talk, but he is shooting. Force him to stop, and in the meantime invest in your own security and help us!».

For Putin to stop the war, he simply needs to stop killing Ukrainians. But for us to survive as a nation, we cannot cease fire until Russia crawls away.

It is very dangerous to consider that only the «Putin regime» is to blame for the war, while the «ordinary people shouldn't suffer». Many in Europe were caught on this propaganda.

Zelenskyy returns from the UN and boasts: 51 countries voted for us! Seriously? Previously 140 voted! They hold a sixth Crimea Platform. They poured an unimaginable amount of cash into it, but what is the result of the previous five? Is there even one result?

Look at tiny Iran compared to the US and Israel. How does Iran force Trump to reckon with it? They say: «Until you lift sanctions, withdraw your warships, and compensate for damages — there will be no peace. And if you don't want to listen — to hell with you, no Strait of Hormuz for you». Oil immediately jumps to $110, and the whole world runs around trying to resolve the issue. Iran didn't give a damn about international law when its existence was threatened.

Yet we want to survive in white gloves, unlock the Black Sea for Erdoğan and Russian oil, without stopping fire on the front. Ukraine's position at negotiations depends on the President. The more Zelenskyy is mired in corruption, the weaker our position is. And this «lame duck» tries to tell us how powerfully he leads the country.

In '22, they were preparing not for war, but to surrender the country. They simply didn't factor in that the people would come out and kick the Russians' teeth in themselves: without weapons, in bast shoes, just like in 2014. Meanwhile, people were told: «No need to prepare, marinate shashlik».

As a military man, I know what lateral supply roads (rokada) are — roads running perpendicular to the enemy's line of advance for maneuvering one's own troops. Yet before the invasion, they were widening longitudinal roads toward Belarus so that Russian tanks could drive not in one column, but in two or three!

They did everything to surrender Ukraine: they prohibited blowing up bridges to Kyiv, and it was only thanks to the commander of the 72nd Brigade that the enemy was stopped. Nobody blew up Chongar and the Antonivskyi Bridge, but they wanted to blow up the bridges across the Dnipro in Kyiv — Zaluzhnyi didn't allow it, because that would have cut off the entire Left Bank and caused a catastrophe.

They were preparing the country for capitulation. Today, through their greed and stupidity, they continue this process. But like hell they will succeed! We don't have a second Ukraine, so we will fight this war to the end. And as for how to hunt them down afterward — normal people know. And they understand this perfectly well.

Look at the Middle East. For Netanyahu, continuing the war means continuing his political life and protection from prison. For Trump, an Iranian war is a disaster, but he doesn't know how to end it. And what about Zelenskyy? He will cling to power until the very last, because he understands full well: he would lose any election to anyone. Their final run at elections was planned for this autumn — remember what that same Fedorov was saying. But Zelenskyy abandoned this idea not because elections are impossible to hold, but because for him it means a personal catastrophe and defeat.

And now he hides behind talking points about 6 million under occupation, 9 million refugees, and the military. Moreover, the authorities view the military exclusively as extras who are supposed to vote for someone, rather than as citizens who have the right to be elected!

Look at this entire «teambuilding» of the most powerful leader. Where are his «five or six managers»? Except for Tatarov, almost all are on the run. Out of five Prosecutors General of his tenure: Riaboshapka, Venediktova, Kostin, Kravchenko — four are abroad! Only Lutsenko remained in the country.

Will Zelenskyy go to prison? What? Go to prison? He will leave power only when he receives guarantees of a «golden parachute» from the Americans. His inner circle, Umerov, Arakhamia, keep all their assets and stashes in the US, because they know prison awaits them in Ukraine. They will not stay here.

But there is one important point. In Ukraine today, the demand for punishment is far stronger than the demand for justice. People are tired and want to see the inevitability of punishment.

When people tell me: «Once the war ends, the guys will return from the front and establish order», I ask: what else are we supposed to do instead of you? We fought — we did the fighting. Now we have to establish order for you too? Many soldiers put it more simply: «Once the war ends, I'll buy a ticket and leave here for six months, because I don't have the stomach to watch this circus».

And those who do return resolve problems completely differently than civilians do. For military personnel, everything is simple: a problem appeared — throw a grenade or take a shot, and the problem is gone. And when they tell us about «adapting veterans to civilian life», I laugh. How do you plan to adapt a person who rotted in trenches for five years to your life with «banana milk lattes»? It's you, civilians, who need to be adapted to the military!

Therefore, whether Zelenskyy and his camarilla end up in prison depends exclusively on whether the new president and a new, truly independent Prosecutor General will have the balls (Faberge).

In Montenegro, they are currently amending legislation to strip the president of immunity regarding corruption crimes. Yet in our country, Zelenskyy has immunity from everything except high treason. And when he cynically asks: «Does the anti-corruption body even have questions for me?», I will answer: there are no questions only because while you are president, it is legally impossible to even interrogate you.

Talking about impeachment is absurd. For that, you need to assemble a constitutional majority, or even three-quarters of the votes — 338 people's deputies! Today, even a simple majority without «monocheckers» is impossible to assemble. And the «Servants» themselves will never vote against Zelenskyy, because while the war continues and there are no elections, they are sitting cozy too.

But let's imagine a complete armistice arrives. The people will immediately say: «Bring on the elections!». Suppose Zaluzhnyi becomes the new president and says: «I need Lapin as Prosecutor General». That is a joke, of course, but do you think this parliament won't vote for it? They will vote like obedient bunnies!

Yuriy Lutsenko correctly brought up the example of 2014: back then, communists and «Regions» MPs voted out of fear for Turchynov and everything that was needed to save the state. Because the Damocles sword of criminal proceedings doesn't go anywhere: suspend one Prosecutor General, appoint an acting one — and the «greens» will vote for whatever is needed.

Today, Zelenskyy could make one simple and powerful move — step out and say: «People, forget about elections, I am not running for a second term. Our lucky train has stopped».

That single phrase would immediately cool off all the «servants» who expected to slip through and jump into parliament a second time on his approval ratings. The authorities would stop thinking about ratings and start thinking about saving the country and washing off their own dirt. The mono-coalition has long ceased to exist. There are half a hundred MPs under threat of actual prison sentences, and some have already received their sentences. We don't need a coalition of «unity» — because how can one «unite» with the likes of Bezuhla — but a coalition and government of national salvation. Non-partisan, not based on party quotas, but professional.

Such a government of salvation already existed after the Maidan, when Yatsenyuk took over an empty treasury and a collapsed budget. And what did they leave for the «greens» in 2019? A stabilized front, hundreds of billions of hryvnias in accounts, and the start of external debt repayments. There are plenty of people in this country who know how to run a state. For this, only two things are needed: for Zelenskyy to announce his refusal of a second term, and for the new Prosecutor General to sign notices of suspicion against MPs where irrefutable evidence exists.

Of course, only Russia is to blame for the war — it attacked us and is killing our people. But the rust of corruption is eroding the state from within no less effectively than the enemy's artillery.

Our corrupt officials kill no fewer Ukrainian soldiers than the Russians do. Defective mortar shells mean a lost position, dead guys, encirclement, or captivity. All corruption streams form locally, but they flow into the bottomless sea of Bankova. And if Zelenskyy remains silent, it means he has no intention of stopping while there is any remaining time buffer.

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych once said in an interview: «I want to be a president who won't be hunted down after 5 years». You will be hunted down, Vova! And there are more than enough grounds for it.

Let's remember the saga with mineral resources. Trump effectively delivered an ultimatum: if Zelenskyy doesn't apologize for the scandal in the Oval Office, he will go to Congress and expose everything. It wasn't just about theft, but about how much property the «greens» bought around the world during the war — these things are proven very easily.

Zelenskyy panicked. Back then, deliveries of shells and intelligence data were indeed paused for us, and if it weren't for our drones, the front wouldn't have held. After that, apologies were made, Svyrydenko signed the agreement, and parliament blindly handed over our subsoil.

And don't tell fairy tales about how «Americans will protect their investments». They haven't paid money for these minerals yet. Over here, our «Coca-Cola» plant was smashed, the German «Kromberg & Schubert» in Zhytomyr was destroyed — did anyone protect them? Nobody is coming to fight here instead of us!