Ukraine Has Decimated Its Oligarchs But Now Fears New Ones
Funding reconstruction of cities and the economy when the war eventually ends will hinge on progress rooting out the corruption and post-Soviet kleptocracy that created a billionaire class.
The Kyiv skyline.
Photographer: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
In the opening scene to Servant of the People, the popular 2015 TV series that helped catapult Volodymyr Zelenskiy from comedian to president, three oligarchs bargained for control of Ukraine as they looked out over its sleeping capital, sipping champagne and brandy.
Eight years later, the tables have turned. The man who played the show’s fictional hero as he bumbled from teacher to president is Ukraine’s war-time leader in real life, wielding emergency powers as he directs the fight against Russia’s invasion. The oligarchs, meanwhile, have seen their assets and political power shrivel.