Former Ukrainian President Poroshenko Hospitalized With COVID-19-Related Pneumonia

Petro Poroshenko speaks near the Pechersk district court in Kyiv on July 8.

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has been hospitalized with bilateral pneumonia after he tested positive for COVID-19, his wife said on October 3.

Poroshenko is in a hospital in Kyiv, his wife, Maryna Poroshenko, said in a video posted on Facebook.

"Despite the fact that my husband has bilateral pneumonia, he is strong-willed and is demonstrating this in the fight against the disease," his wife said.

The 55-year-old former president announced on September 29 he had tested positive for the coronavirus and said he was receiving treatment at home.

He suffers from diabetes, which is associated with an increased risk of developing complications from the coronavirus.

A billionaire confectioner, Poroshenko is currently a member of parliament and leader of the European Solidarity party.

He led Ukraine after Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the outbreak of conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in the east of the country.

In 2019, he lost the presidential election to Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Ukraine, with a population of some 40 million, has reported more than 222,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 4,300 fatalities.

Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Zelenskiy's wife both contracted the virus but have recovered.



With reporting by AFP