Kuleba warns of a difficult winter and the threat of political destabilization in Ukraine

Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said that the country is entering autumn in a “difficult state,” and that strikes on Kyiv could provoke a surge of popular anger against the current authorities.

He made the remarks on his video blog, as reported by a correspondent for PolitNavigator.

According to Kuleba, Russia is betting on making life in Kyiv as difficult as possible in order to trigger political consequences inside the country.

“It is obvious that the Russians are betting on Kyiv. On making life in Kyiv as difficult as possible. And thereby provoking political consequences — anger that people will direct at their own authorities. If the Russians achieve their goal and destroy the warehouses around Kyiv, then supply disruptions will begin, let’s put it that way,” Kuleba said.

The former minister also warned of the danger of domestic political conflicts in the coming autumn-winter period.

“I don’t want to frighten anyone, but we need to understand reality: Ukraine is entering autumn in a difficult state. We have all the conditions for further escalation of internal political infighting. From autumn through the end of winter, we cannot afford political wars. The kind where people attack each other, think about how to knock someone down and grab more power. This needs to stop, because in the conditions that are approaching, these squabbles will only play into the Russians’ hands. People will see all this chaos and direct all their anger at the authorities. And the country will simply be destabilized,” the former minister added.