Ukraine has come a long way in fighting their corruption issues (which were in part caused by russian loyalists). I really hope they can kick out Putin quick and then join the EU.

It’s even more corrupt now that it’s ever been. What made you think it was improving?

What is your source for it being more corrupt than it’s ever been before? This directly contradicts the data from Transparency International’s corruption perception poll, which shows that it’s the best it’s ever been, but still bad. There has also been pressure by the EU to reduce corruption as part of the roadway to EU membership. The US has also been apply pressure for going on a decade. Recently, this has resulted in several high profile indictments against high ranking officials.

War tends to make corruption harder to tackle. Everything is so focused on war efforts that a bribe here or there seems trivial in comparison. You also have a tremendous number of displaced people, which make them vulnerable. The resolution of the Russo-Ukrainian War will make corruption much easier to tackle.

The less democracy the more corruption. They are under martial law, their government right now is on pair with a dictatorship. Remember that no male between 18 and 60 can leave the country and if they try to do they would get arrested.

I gotta say, I’ve not been thrilled with how Zelenskyy has dealt with political freedoms in the country. When you claim to be the bulwark of liberal democracy, you better be hewing to those claims very strongly. Banning political parties is impossible to square with that. Conscription though? That I can understand. For Ukraine, this is total war, and it’s not a war of choice like with Russia.

They chose to go to war. They chose to have a civil war against minorities who wanted self-determination to escape the Nazi coup regime that illegally installed a dictator.

Russia did not choose this war and spent years trying to avoid it. Hollande and Merkel have admitted that they lied and were trying to get the war started.

Russia was invading Ukraine before the post-Maiden revolution government had the chance to get its pants on. Russia’s “little green men” were rolling onto Ukrainian soil far before the Kyiv government could possibly have done anything. Russia saw a moment of chaos and took advantage of it.