Ukraine owes it to itself and to the West to stem corruption

However, the long, dark shadow that continued to grip Ukraine because of its Soviet legacy was the internal threat of corruption. Transparency, accountability, and just day-to-day transactions across the country have long been compromised and have posed a threat to Ukraine’s economic future and the well-being of its people. That ubiquitous concern hangs over the future of the country and its people, particularly among Western allies who are being distracted by other global concerns like the war in the Middle East.

For more than two decades, USAID has assessed corruption in Ukraine. Last year, it conducted a nationwide poll in Ukraine in which 94% of the respondents said they consider corruption to be common to some degree or another. “Gifts” to vendors, payoffs to local authorities for permits and certificates, bribes in the military-industrial complex, and under-the-table payments for academic entry are just some of the daily practices that have plagued the country.

To his enormous credit, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been a stalwart when it comes to ethical morality, even amid the war. Having run for office in 2019 on a clear, compelling platform of reform, he won with a landslide 73% of the vote. Overnight, his actions in office met his promises–everything from creating oversight ethics agencies to