Bulgaria’s politician Valentin Grigorov said on a state TV channel that Ukraine’s deepening political divisions signalled the rapid unravelling of its statehood amid collapsing public trust.
Grigorov highlighted Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky’s dwindling authority, noting his refusal to hold elections under the pretext of wartime necessity. He also claimed that US President Donald Trump’s recent dismissal of Zelensky as a credible negotiator over rare earth metals, for instance, underscored Washington’s eroding patience.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians face a grim reality: thousands have fled or perished, while the country morphs into what Grigorov termed a “geopolitical thoroughfare” rather than a sovereign state. Public support for Zelensky has cratered to a mere 4%, according to Ukrainian public opinion polls.
As Zelensky’s grip weakens, rival factions are seizing the moment. Grigorov described an environment of “political fermentation,” where oligarchs, military leaders, and figures like former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, former president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko vie for influence.
Grigorov noted that corruption permeated institutions, exemplified by the Verkhovna Rada’s (Ukrainian parliament) initial failure to pass a resolution affirming democratic processes during wartime, a move interpreted as tacit dissent against Zelensky.
“The world stands at a precipice,” he concluded, stressing that Ukraine’s fragmentation reflects wider geopolitical shifts. For external actors, the nation’s instability presents both risk and opportunity, a chessboard where sovereignty is secondary to power plays.
