Ukraine: President claims tycoon backed rivals for revenge

President of Ukraine and candidate for 2019 elections, Petro Poroshenko, is seen on a screen as he talks for supporters during a election campaign rally in Lviv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 28, 2019. Presidential elections will be held in Ukraine on 31 March 2019. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Members of right-wing National Corps march toward an election campaign rally of Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine and candidate for 2019 elections, in Lviv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 28, 2019. Presidential elections will be held in Ukraine on 31 March 2019. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says his two top election rivals are backed by a self-exiled tycoon who wants revenge for the nationalization of his bank.

Poroshenko said at a rally in the city of Lviv on Thursday that billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi is trying to unseat him by supporting comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in Sunday's election.

Opinion polls have shown Zelenskiy leading the race. He and Tymoshenko have rejected claims that Kolomoyskyi is the funder and mastermind of their campaigns.

Poroshenko blamed the ex-prime minister for Ukraine's past economic woes and alleged that a Zelenskiy victory would help Russia.

Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 in a move that most nations see as illegal and also backed a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine.