Ukraine’s President prepares to go out in style

If, as looks likely, Petro Poroshenko loses his bid for re-election as President of Ukraine, he will have gone out in style. On Saturday night, the eve of the vote, his home town staged a huge public concert at the venue he created and sponsored: a state-of-the-art sound-and-light fountain complex just a short walk along the bank of the River Bug from one of the two big confectionary factories his company operates here.

There were bands and spectacular waterworks, and, like much that Poroshenko’s company, Roshen, sponsors, it all had a distinctly wholesome, rather American, family air. Through the morning, cleaners wielding brooms were sweeping every inch of every step in preparation for the extravaganza. A notice at the entrance of the children’s playground, just by the viewing area for the fountain, sets the tone. The playground, it says, was built and sponsored by the Roshen confectionary company, and everyone should respect the facilities and behave courteously, so that everyone can enjoy it.

Vinnytsia, with its population of around 350,000 is two and half hours away from Ukraine’s capital Kiev on the fastest train and is considered part of western Ukraine, but it is not as far west in either geography or spirit as Lviv.