PETRO POROSHENKO

Ukraine president holds one-man ‘debate’ before run-off vote as election front-runner skips debate

1 He stood next to an empty lectern bearing his election rival’s name and used a solo appearance at Ukraine’s largest sports stadium on Sunday to lash out at the race’s inexperienced front-runner as a “virtual candidate”

2 While Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a television comedian, has never held public office, a public opinion survey had him finishing far ahead of the incumbent president in the April 21 run-off election

3 Zelenskiy got nearly twice as many votes as Poroshenko in the election’s first round last month, reflecting Ukrainians’ frustration with corruption and weariness with Russia-backed separatists.