As Ukraine’s Politics Heat Back Up, a Former President Sees an Opening NYT | Top Stories By: Andrew E. Kramer 13 April 2025 at 17:01 Petro O. Poroshenko, who led the country before Volodymyr Zelensky, said that peace talks could be smoothed if opposition figures were included in the government. © Finbarr O’Reilly for The New York TimesPetro O. Poroshenko, Ukraine’s former president, this past week in his office in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.