Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko | Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images Poroshenko defends Merkel against criticism by Trump Sanctions against Russia would not have been possible without help from Germany and France, former Ukraine president says.

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday rebutted criticism of Germany by his successor, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said that Berlin has not done enough to help defend Ukraine against Russia.

Poroshenko, who was ousted by Zelenskiy in a landslide vote this spring, said that sanctions penalizing Russia for its military aggression in Ukraine would have been impossible without the help of Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as French President François Hollande and his successor, Emmanuel Macron.

"Support, which was provided by the EU, has been unprecedented," Poroshenko tweeted.

On Wednesday, the White House released a rough readout of a phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy, in which Trump pressed Zelenskiy to investigate former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's son, and also asserted that Germany does "almost nothing" for Ukraine. The call has set off a furor in Washington, and led congressional Democrats to push forward with an impeachment inquiry.

Support, which was provided by the EU, has been unprecedented. The EU sanctions would have been impossible without Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, without @EmmanuelMacron, the successor of Francois Hollande as the President of France. Both countries represented the whole EU — Петро Порошенко (@poroshenko) September 26, 2019

Zelenskiy quickly agreed, telling Trump: "Yes you are absolutely right. Not only 100 percent but actually 1,000 percent." Zelenskiy, however, quickly shifted the focus to whether enough was being done to enforce sanctions, rather than on military assistance or financial aid.

"Germany does almost nothing for you," Trump had said. "All they do is talk and I think it’s something that you should really ask them about. When I was speaking to Angela Merkel, she talks Ukraine, but she doesn’t do anything. A lot of the European countries are the same way so I think it’s something you want to look at but the United States has been very, very good to Ukraine.”

According to EU fact sheets, the bloc has directed more than €15 billion in assistance to Kyiv since the conflict with Russia began in 2014.

Poroshenko remains active in Ukrainian politics, as a member of parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, and a leader of a rival party to Zelenskiy. Poroshenko had a good relationship with Merkel while president but the criticism of his successor could be risky, potentially opening himself up to allegations that he is aiming to gain politically from Ukraine getting caught in the middle of a partisan political fight in the U.S.