Former Ukraine president defies arrest threat in showdown with successor

Ukrainian former President Petro Poroshenko speaks during a news conference in Warsaw, Poland January 16, 2022. Poroshenko gives a press conference on the eve of his scheduled departure for Kyiv, where he faces a possible arrest on suspicion of high treason by financing pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine while in office in 2014-2015. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

WARSAW (Reuters) - Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said on Sunday he planned to return to Ukraine on Monday despite the threat of arrest in a treason case he says was trumped up by allies of current President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Poroshenko's return sets up a showdown with Zelenskiy's government in what critics say is an ill-judged distraction at a time when Ukraine is bracing for a possible Russian military offensive and appealing to Western allies for support.