“There is a war in Ukraine,” he said at televised debates on the First National Television Channel. “Ukraine is losing its territories. The situation in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions is very difficult. Oligarchs are forming not only their bandit groups but also paramilitary structures.” (…)

“That is why the Communist Party has decided to withdraw my candidature and we are doing this to save Ukraine from the havoc we are having now.”