A Kyiv court on Wednesday rejected a request to arrest Ukraine's former President Petro Poroshenko on charges of treason following his chaotic return to the country to ward off neighboring Russia.
Prosecutors had asked for Poroshenko – who returned to Kyiv this week despite facing arrest – to be detained before trial unless he posted the equivalent of $35 million in bail.
Poroshenko, 56, who served as president from 2014 to 2019, was placed under investigation for high treason and left Ukraine in December.
One of the country's richest men, he flew back to Kyiv on Monday after vowing to help ex-Soviet Ukraine fend off a possible Russian invasion.
Poroshenko and his supporters applauded and started singing the national anthem in court as Judge Oleksiy Sokolov announced the decision.
"Dear friends, I congratulate you," Poroshenko said in televised remarks, standing with his wife and several lawmakers from his party.
"We came here to show that we are not afraid, that the truth is with us," he said.
The court also ordered Poroshenko to surrender his passports, effectively banning him from leaving the country.
Lawyer Igor Golovan said that Poroshenko will also need to report to investigators upon their request.
Poroshenko is a staunch critic of incumbent President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he accuses of failing to do enough to prevent Russian aggression.
Poroshenko told supporters after the hearing that Ukraine's current authorities aimed to "discredit me in the eyes of the voters."
But "nobody believed them," he said, adding that he plans to appeal the order to surrender his travel documents.
U.S. calls for unity
After the hearing, a crowd of over a thousand Poroshenko supporters marched from the court to rally outside the presidential office.
There was a heavy police presence but no arrests.
Poroshenko was elected president in 2014, the same year Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and as fighting escalated between Kyiv's troops and Moscow-backed separatists in the east of the country.
Authorities say they are investigating dozens of alleged crimes in which Poroshenko might be involved. A Kyiv court froze his assets at the start of January.
Among the allegations is a claim that he aided the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics in selling $54 million worth of coal to Kyiv between 2014 and 2015.
Poroshenko, often called Ukraine's "chocolate king," owns a confectionery empire and two television channels. Forbes magazine estimates his fortune to be worth $1.6 billion.
His return comes with Ukraine facing its biggest crisis in years as Russia masses tens of thousands of troops on the border, raising fears of an invasion and prompting warnings from the West.
In the latest in a flurry of diplomatic efforts to ease tensions, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday for talks with Ukraine's leadership.
Blinken warned Ukrainians of divisions, likely a reference to Poroshenko's return to the country.
"I think one of Moscow's longstanding goals has been to try to sow divisions between and within our countries. And quite simply, we cannot and will not let them do that," Blinken said ahead of a meeting with Zelenskyy.