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Zelensky rolls out slick video to say he'll debate Poroshenko. But he wants it held at Olympic stadium with all TV stations & journalists able to attend. Then takes this jab: "You thought I'd run and hide...No, I'm not you in 2014. I accept the challenge."
Zelensky has given Poroshenko 24 hours to respond and is running a countdown clock on the Facebook page of his campaign. 
BTW, the reference to Poroshenko in 2014 is about him refusing to debate Tymoshenko in that year's snap presidential election.
LOL. Of course. The press service for Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium says this is the first they’ve heard of any presidential debate possibly being held there. Zelensky never ran it by them. nsc-olimpiyskiy.com.ua/news/do-uvagi-…
Zelensky’s PR team has sent out his ultimatum to Poroshenko and “conditions” in English.
Poroshenko responds to Zelensky. His video is not slick; message is this: Ukraine law requires debate to be on state TV. “Being president is not a game” & “a debate is a serious discussion.”
“A stadium is a stadium,” he quips(?).
So are they doing this?
“A stadium is a stadium,” he quips(?).
So are they doing this?
So Poroshenko meets Zelensky half way and throws the ball back in his court before Ze’s countdown expires. Did the incumbent call the comic’s bluff? Also, nobody cared to ask Olympic stadium whether it would host the debate. But now both candidates say they’ll do it there.
Next question: when do tickets go on sale?
This just keeps getting more surreal. Now Ukrainian pop/opera singer Kamaliya says she's ready to sing the national anthem at the stadium where Zelensky and Poroshenko have agreed to debate.
And now Ukraine’s interior ministry and national police say they are ready to provide security for the presidential debate at Olympic stadium. (The stadium management is yet to be formally asked!)
The below fake about Zelensky's debate challenge video being produced by a Russian company is circulating on social media in Ukraine, with help from several of President Poroshenko's team, including First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Iryna Gerashenko. She later removed her post.
Some Poroshenko allies haven't removed their posts about this and continue to spread the false info:
!! Poroshenko has agreed to a drug test, says his campaign head. "Tomorrow at 9:00 am [Poroshenko] will be waiting for Volodymyr Zelensky at the medical center of the Olympic Stadium." It's on. pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2019/…
Volodymyr Zelenskiy and incumbent Petro Poroshenko have egged each other on since they advanced to a presidential runoff. But in upping the stakes to an Olympic-sized event, they both may have bitten off more than the country can chew. rferl.org/a/ukraine-zele…
Latest development: Zelensky’s team now asks Poroshenko to get his drug test done at a lab of their choice because they don’t trust the lab at Olympic Stadium. Hmm.
🚨 Aaaa!! Another Zelensky video! He asks Tymoshenko to take part in the debate — as a moderator! 🤦🏻♂️
Zelensky did well in the first round by keeping his head down, staying out of the mud. Winning big, he earned the right to be taken seriously. But now he’s back to acting like a comic, moving the goalposts when Poroshenko calls his bluff, asking for Tymoshenko to moderate debate.
The video battle rages on. Poroshenko fires back after Zelensky changed the terms of the debate outlined in his first video and then released a second in which he asked for Tymoshenko moderate. The incumbent prez tells Ze to man up, show up at the stadium.
At 9am local time in Kyiv this morning, at Olympic Stadium, Poroshenko is set to take a drug test. This was one of demands laid out by Zelensky. He may have thought Poroshenko wouldn’t take him up, but the president has. Now Zelensky’s trying to change the location of the test.
Live stream from the the medical office where Zelenskiy is getting his drug test done. No, it's not Olympic stadium where Poroshenko will do his in an hour. facebook.com/ze2019official…
Ukraine presidential election update:
Journalists now waiting for President Poroshenko to emerge from his drug test at Olympic Stadium.
Meanwhile...
This is what we are being shown now at Olympic Stadium. Live stream of the presidential blood test. Zelensky did his this morning at a different location. Now it’s Poroshenko’s turn.
Poroshenko just came out to greet the doctors. After 🤝 they went to a room right behind the 📺 where the blood test will be performed.
There we go! Blood has been drawn from President Poroshenko. Right arm and now the left. For good measure I guess.
Every Ukrainian channel appears to be carrying this live.
Poroshenko emerges from a drug test he needed to take to debate comedian Zelensky in the Olympic Stadium. Where the latter demanded it be held. “Volodymyr, I am here now, and you are not,” the incumbent quips.
There were urine tests after all.
Poroshenko's drug test results are already in and the doctor says "not a single psychotropic substance was found."
The weird gets weirder. The doctor who conducted Zelenskiy's drug test today is also a massage therapist and actor who's played roles like "killer," "nurse," and "German soldier" in 17 film projects, including some for Zelenskiy's Kvartal 95 studio. pravda.com.ua/news/2019/04/5…
The (clean) presidential blood of Poroshenko. president.gov.ua/en/news/obovya…
Let me remind you all, this is all happening despite the fact that management for Olympiysky Stadium still hasn't received a formal request from Central Election Commission or National Public Broadcaster to host the presidential debate. But it has said it is ready to do so.
Poroshenko & Zelenskiy drug test procedures weren't good enough for former world heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko. He suggests the candidates test for drugs & alcohol at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). He even offers to organize it. "Trust the professionals!"
Ukraine's Presidential Race Takes A Turn For The Nurse
My write-up of this wild (and historic?) day: rferl.org/a/ukraine-s-pr…
My write-up of this wild (and historic?) day: rferl.org/a/ukraine-s-pr…
