How Corruption Haunts Ukraine’s Wartime Leadership

Ukraine’s government has spent the best part of a decade trying to clamp down on graft, and not just because its foreign allies are demanding it. Many Ukrainians see the war that’s ravaging their country not only as a battle against Russian aggression, but also as a struggle to uphold fair play and the rule of law. They don’t want a return to the rampant corruption and abuse of power that climaxed under former pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych.

Recent events show the battle against high-level graft is still far from over. In July, when Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies began to close in on figures close to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he tried to seize control of the bodies. He rapidly reversed course when his actions sparked outrage among ordinary Ukrainians and the Western governments bankrolling his government. The nation’s graft problem reared its head again in November, when Zelenskiy’s powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, became ensnared in a corruption probe targeting officials and a former business ally of the president and was forced to quit.