Mikheil Saakashvili was president of Georgia from 2004 to 2013 and is chairman of the board of the New International Leadership Institute.

On June 4, President Obama will meet Petro Poroshenko, president-elect of Ukraine. Three days later, Poroshenko will be inaugurated as Ukraine’s new president. And although officially, Poroshenko will be the fifth president of independent Ukraine, in many things he will be the first.

Poroshenko will be the first president of Ukraine chosen through early elections after his predecessor was deposed. He will be the first president elected with the support of both East and West Ukraine. He will be the first to be fluent in English. He will also be the first to assume power when his country is at war.


There should be no doubt that he is the right person, at the right time, in the right place, to confront the many challenges facing Ukraine. But integral to this success is newcomer Vitaly Klitschko, the retired boxer and mayor-elect of Kyiv. Together, they must lead Ukraine out of crisis.

I’ve known Poroshenko for almost 30 years, since we studied together at Kyiv University. He started his business after a video salon in our dorm in the early days of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika. These salons were a direct window for us to Western culture. Poroshenko saw immediately the potential to become a self-made man, and deployed his considerable management skills to build a billion-dollar business. Unlike with other Ukrainian oligarchs, this wealth did not exploit Ukraine’s natural resources or monopolies.

After the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia, I went to Kyiv to share my experiences with Ukraine’s then-opposition. Poroshenko grasped immediately the need to prepare for elections that would inevitably be rigged. One year later, he became the engine behind Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, financing and organizing the entire protest infrastructure. When then President Leonid Kuchma took Poroshenko’s fifth channel, then the only independent TV station in the country, off the air, Poroshenko called me with a solution and we broadcast the channel via the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s satellite slot. More Ukrainians saw his channel than ever before. Poroshenko’s dedication to service was also displayed in the positions he held in the Orange Revolution government, including foreign minister.

During the protests that began last fall, Poroshenko again took a backstage role, but he toured Western capitals to mobilize international support for a new Ukrainian revolution. His courage, adaptability and diplomatic skill were essential to guiding the Maidan, as the protest movement became known, through critical situations quickly. Before the election that brought him to power, he was careful not to alienate voters from the eastern part of the country with radical rhetoric. But immediately after the election, he made strong statements about the role of President Vladimir Putin and of Russia — and most remarkably, he appealed for direct U.S. military assistance, citing Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous quotation: “If your neighbor’s house is on fire, you don’t haggle over the price of your garden hose.”

As president-elect, his first foreign visit was to Poland — a highly symbolic move. He then invited a prominent Georgian economic reformer, Kakha Bendukidze, to serve as an adviser — a direct reference to the fact that Ukraine has lost decade and faces similar economic challenges now as Georgia did in 2004. These moves draw Ukraine back to a success path for European integration.

But an unexpected partnership was crucial to Poroshenko’s recent ascent. Klitschko, who founded one of Ukraine’s opposition parties, is in many ways Poroshenko’s opposite. Poroshenko is a seasoned politician; Klitschko, who was the world heavyweight champion until his retirement last year, a political novice. Poroshenko won votes by being a rational leader; Klitschko mobilized enthusiasm around his newness and celebrity, especially among the youth. Klitschko showed he is the face of a new generation of post-Soviet leaders by ending his presidential bid to support Poroshenko.

The alliance between these generational leaders ensured Poroshenko’s first-round victory and secured Klitschko’s own election as mayor of Kyiv. Poroshenko had the structure and resources to win, but Klitschko — untarnished by the usual murk of Ukraine’s politics — brought energy and the hope that Ukraine can survive this crisis. If Klitschko can now make Kyiv a success story for Ukraine, Poroshenko can leverage that success nationwide.

Klitschko wasted no time, inviting a group of Georgian reformers to help kickstart radical changes at City Hall. Deregulation, cutting red tape, rejuvenating the civil service and cracking down on corruption — this is a tall order. The Ukrainian state will not survive if these two men cannot end the Russian intrusion and eliminate corruption through deep structural reforms. Poroshenko seems suited for the task of commander in chief, but he needs an ally like Klitschko to implement the necessary changes. Heading toward parliamentary elections, which could be held later this year,the next crucial test for the unity of the country’s pro-Western and pro-reform forces, this political alliance will also be critical.

As for Poroshenko’s meeting with President Obama, he needs more than statements. Ukraine may have competent new leaders, but they will need help. Europe failed to come up with a united response in Ukraine. Russia successfully deployed diplomatic maneuvering to prevent meaningful sanctions, even while sending as many forces into Eastern Ukraine as needed to squeeze Ukrainian troops and later strangle Kyiv with a combination of humiliating military defeat and economic instruments, including gas blackmail, to send the Ukrainian economy into a tailspin.

The United States is in a unique position to thwart Putin’s game plan. First, President Obama should heed Poroshenko’s plea and lend Ukraine the “garden hose” by using his new “European Reassurance Initiative” to send U.S. Marines to train Ukrainian troops and supply their armed forces with much-needed upgrades in equipment. Second, while encouraging Ukraine to adopt an aggressive energy efficiency strategy to cut down on natural gas consumption (Ukraine consumes 30 times more gas than Georgia, while its economy is only 10 times bigger, making it highly vulnerable to Russian blackmail), the United States should offer a strategic plan for starting American gas exports to Ukraine. Third, the Obama administration should continue its diplomatic campaign to convince its European allies to rein in corporate interests in favor of real sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas sector. Lastly, knowing Ukraine’s history of failed political alliances and knowing how critical the success of this new one will be for Ukraine, Washington should embrace leaders like Poroshenko and Klitschko and ensure they continue to work together to build a modern, successful democracy.