There is a saying that has been circulating since 2014, according to which Ukraine is fighting two enemies at once: Russia and corruption.
Orisya Lutsevich, head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, believes in an article in the British newspaper The Guardian that the recent resignations of high-level officials in Ukraine shed light on the battle that Kyiv is waging to prove to the world that Ukraine is not a corrupt country as Russia is trying to portray it. for the world.
Regarding the seriousness of the two external enemies represented by the Russian invasion and the internal one represented by corruption, Lutsevich says that the devastating Russian invasion poses an existential threat to Ukraine, but corruption undermines effective resistance to the Russian invasion and hinders Ukraine's aspirations to build close relations with European countries, so he believes that the elimination of corruption has become a A matter of life and death for Kiev.
The Ukrainian writer indicates that Russia is seeking to undermine international confidence in the Ukrainian government, and hopes that this will lead to slowing the flow of Western aid and limiting Western political support for Ukraine.
The Kremlin has been repeating its propaganda that Ukraine is an irreformable country and corruption is rampant, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech before the invasion that, despite the efforts of the Ukrainian anti-corruption bodies, "corruption has remained flourishing in the country, and is still in full bloom." , more than ever".
Corruption despite the war
Last week, Ukraine witnessed a corruption scandal involving prominent officials, the first since the Russian invasion of the country, as leaked official documents revealed an exaggerated $350 million food purchase contract signed by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Vasyl Lozinsky, has also been accused of siphoning money from the aid budget earmarked for winter distribution.
The writer said that these corruption scandals made all eyes turn towards Ukraine to see the reaction of the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky and law enforcement agencies to these corruption operations, noting that the resignation of the Deputy Minister of Defense, Vyacheslav Shapovalov, was a good and unprecedented start, especially if we take into account that he He was not personally involved in the corruption deal, most likely.
Lutsevich believes that the positive aspect of what happened is the concerted efforts of the independent Ukrainian media and civil society to expose corruption even in wartime, as well as the official efforts to combat corruption.
The writer concluded that Ukraine's battle with corruption is not over yet, and that many have misjudged the strength of the Ukrainian government's anti-corruption reaction and the amount of change it was able to achieve over the past eight years, just as they were mistaken before about its ability to resist the Russian invasion.