Volodymyr Zelensky's legacy will be to turn his country into a "new Afghanistan," former Ukrainian prime minister Nikolai Azarov has said.
"Over the years, presidents of Ukraine made promises to turn the country into either a new France or a new Switzerland. However, Zelensky went further than anyone and turned the country into a new Afghanistan, to the delight of the Anglo-Saxons and defense companies," Azarov wrote in a social media post.
"What do you think? Is there is a chance that Washington will get tired of its 'toy' in the foreseeable future? Or is the pleasure of playing dirty tricks on Russia more important than the lives of the hostages of the Kiev regime?" the politician asked.
In an interview with Sputnik earlier this month, Azarov went into detail on the roles played by the United States and the UK in turning Ukraine into a failed state, recalling how, in the nine years since the 2014 Euromaidan coup, the country's population was cut in half – a catastrophe not witnessed even during the Second World War. Characterizing Zelensky as an empty vessel and tool of Western powers and oligarchic interests who cares more about profits and popularity abroad than about the Ukrainian people, Azarov expects him to suffer the same fate as his pro-Western predecessor Viktor Yushchenko.
Azarov served as prime minister of Ukraine from 2002-2005, 2006-2007 and 2010-January 2014, presiding over Ukraine’s strongest economic growth in its post-Soviet history. He was forced to resign in early 2014 amid street protests in Kiev, several weeks before the Euromaidan coup overthrew President Viktor Yanukovych.
Azarov isn’t the first to make comparisons between the crisis in his country and the 20-year war in Afghanistan, with independent observers characterizing both conflicts as opportunities for the US military-industrial complex to rake in massive new defense contracts, but warning that Ukraine could become Washington’s next Afghanistan-style "forever war."