>

But who's checking for corruption within the anti-corruption unit?!
Damn that sure is a lot of corruption. >

Much remained unchanged since USSR days.
Oligarchs owned everything, controlled everything, etc.
With the ru backers no longer in positions of power, reform is finally possible.
Also, a requirement for EU membership, hence many laws now passed to that end. >

The EU requirement is the big thing. If they didn’t make moves to embrace western democracy and remove political corruption they would not be joining the bloc after the war.
Possibly join NATO maybe, but not the EU. >

The EU just granted Bosnia a place even though they are near the bottom of the corruption index >

Yes but that's simply to say they're a candidate. They can be a candidate and the EU will regularly be checking in to see that they're making the required reforms for actually becoming a member. If they don't make the reforms, they don't join. If they take decades to reform, then it'll be decades before they join.
Ukraine will be in the same boat. >

Candidacy is pretty much a given they will be in soon.
Romania and Bulgaria (two other corrupt countries) were given candidacy in 2004 before being accepted in 2006 (and officially becoming members in 2007) 
They both applied in 1995 while Bosnia applied in 2017 so slightly quicker for Bosnia but now it's when not if and when won't be that long. >

Turkey had applied for candidacy years ago and that was revoked when it became clear that Edregon’s policies did not respect the impartiality of the judiciary or of the press. So it can be revoked, it’s just that the EU takes educated guesses on who likely a country is to clean itself up after membership. >

Turkey is totally different because they just stick 2 fingers up to membership (or Erdogan on behalf of Turkey does).
Turkey was a founding member of the council of Europe after the war and only fully left the EU sphere in 2011.
If they really wanted to get back in they could. >

The perfect time to do it. The common man fighting for their freedom will not stand by with their lives on the line to accept corruption anymore. Its either "you're with us or against us" attitude. >

Speaking of the “perfect time,” I imagine that nearly one year into an existential war Zelensky can probably feel out who in power is for it selflessly and who’s been in it for themselves.
In other words, the tree’s been shaking long enough for the rotten apples to fall. Perhaps even the rotten branches. >

Considering the mess he inherited from the ousted Russian puppet, I can image it’s been an extensive pruning job >

Poroshenko was the president before Zelenskyy until 2019. Yanukovych was the one ousted in 2014. Poroshenko was a flawed president with a lot of issues but one thing he was not was a Russian puppet. His govt started European integration and the massive military reforms which have formed the significantly improved Ukrainian Army we see today. >

My mistake, I forgot there was someone between Yanukovich and Zelenskiy >

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 88%. (I'm a bot)


A number of Ukrainian officials have been dismissed or resigned over the last four days amid corruption allegations as Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, attempts to take a zero-tolerance approach to the issue.
Fifteen senior officials have left their posts since Saturday, six of whom have had corruption allegations levelled at them by journalists and Ukraine's anti-corruption authorities.
The shake-up continued on Tuesday afternoon with Ukraine's cabinet of ministers announcing that five regional heads had been dismissed, only one of whom is being investigated for corruption, along with a further three deputy ministers and two heads of state agencies - none of whom stand accused of corruption.


Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Ukraine^#1 corruption^#2 contract^#3 Ukrainian^#4 Shabunin^#5 >

Gotta say, that man really rose to the occasion that only unique difficulties can bring.
I've never witnessed the making of a legendary statesman before, but I'm sure this is the real thing. >

I replied to a comment earlier similarly:
Go watch Servant of the People, it’s an uncanny coincidence that he is the real president now. >

That existence of that show is what makes me think we are living in a simulation more than anything else. >

As long as it plays out the way the show does we can live inside the Matrix a little longer. >

Well the show didn't predict the Russian occupation soooo. >

Ended too soon is all >

Sequel of the People >


The leading anti-corruption activist Vitaliy Shabunin said the dismissal of those accused of corruption is evidence that Ukraine’s newly formed anti-corruption system is working.

Sounds good.

Shabunin added that the firing of Reznikov was the only way to reinstate confidence in Ukraine’s western partners.

I think we need to hear from those western partners first. There is no evidence that Reznikov took bribes. >

The investigative article on the inflated food prices is interesting, since I assumed that the price was for food delivered to the frontlines, where (of course) it would be more expensive. However, that is not the case:

For comparison, I have chosen Silpo chain of grocery stores in the residential area of ​​Kyiv. Goods from the places of their production must be transported to it as far as to the military in Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, and Cherkasy regions. ...
The prices of the most popular foods turned out to be 2-3 times higher! ...
Moreover, we compare prices enshrined in the contract with retail prices, which already include both the manufacturer's profit and the store's markup, they are a priori higher than wholesale prices. 

There's a lot of great reporting in that article that makes a very strong case that some have been using the war to dramatically hike the prices of essentials sold to the UA army, benefitting from the fact that military contracts have been hidden from the public for national security reasons. >

Reznikov is not the one responsible for dealing with food prices, that is his deputies. His main work is management of the entire defense infrastructure. It is unreasonable to sack an extremely effective Minister that has the full trust of your partners for low level corruption he did not commit. It was caught because the ministry aims to be as transparent as possible (those numbers could have also been kept secret), either the ministry explains why those prices were their only choice or fire the deputy who approved the corrupt tender. >

I do agree with that: it seems premature to call for the resignation of Reznikov if he was not aware of this corruption and alleged overcharging (see the other reply for a rebuttal from a Ukrainian). I think firing the individuals responsible for any corruption, blacklisting sketchy suppliers, and moving towards real transparency as suggested by the article author (price per unit) would be sufficient at this point. >

Get er done ✅ >

Personally, I'm more concerned about the fact that Dmytro Zhyvitsky from Sumy is on the list of the dismissed. 
 Behind him, no errors were noticed and he worked quite well.  It is possible that some of the layoffs are not related to corruption.  It is possible that some were fired due to fatigue. 
 Unfortunately, it seems that the author of the article is more interested in the number of dismissed officials and not in the number of officials who were charged. >

No one ever said Ukraine was perfect but just the fact that they can have journalism, investigation, public discord and action shows how removed they are from SU days. >

keep it going. By the end of this war your country will have one foot in the EU and the other in NATO, keep up the good fight >

Gargantuan task. Especially during wartime, needs a systematic approach. Corruption in Ukraine was always at the second place after Belarus and Russia.
Hope to see Ukraine corruption free in coming years. >

Perhaps someone from NATO asked for receipts…
Ukraine since declaring its independence in 1991 didn’t really become well functioning democracy. In fact they very much remained like Russia. Corruption, protectionism and nepotism have been pretty much reality even after Zelenskiy became a president. War obviously makes process of change much faster. With his undeniable popularity in Ukraine and internationally Zelenskiy can and will remove unfavourable opponents as easy as it gets. 
I admire Zelenskiy as wartime president and wish him and Ukraine complete victory in this war. I just hope he leaves his post when it’s time for newly elected leader and doesn’t become Putin of Ukraine. >

He really needs to pull a Cincinnatus or Washington.  He needs to retire from public service in 2029. >

Go watch Zelenskyy’s  TV show Servant of the People.It’s on Netflix with subtitles. And on YouTube. 
I hope it turns out that same way in real life. >

how does it end? >

In the future. In some sort of utopia. 
That's not the point though. What is really interesting and helpful is the level of ingrained corruption in the society. Also the influence of Russia on Ukrainian politics. It is really funny at times and really sad at times. True tragicomedy. 
I come from that part of the world and it was eerily reminiscent of my country's transition to democracy. Other than the fear of Russian invasion. ( I guess we finally kicked them out in 1990 or 91 so we did have that practical experience in the past).
Watch it it will teach you a lot. Just remember that it is a TV comedy show and some things are exaggerated. >

Like the Episode about The money for the road!  
The actual workers say 10 million Hryvnia and one month to finish the roads. And as the quote goes up the chain of command, the money and time double or triple each step finally the minister of interior says 2 years and 2 billion… and not in Hryvnias. >

The really effective thing he and his team did with servant of the people is use popular fiction - and four solid years - to prime the population to start having a serious conversation about corruption.
And because it was fiction, the people he was really digging under didn’t real realize this or fight back.
Contrast that with Navalny, who made a documentary about real world corruption. And I don’t mean the being in jail part, I mean breaking more to more people to care about eradicating it part. Obviously Russia is different for many other societal reasons, but I the TV show seems to have made a significant dent in Ukraine’s collective will to fix this. >

In time of emergency, some asshole will exploit their power for profits. This is next level of traitor. >

I have trying so hard to understand some people here, they are angry about Ukraine has corrupted officials and get more angry about Ukraine take their corrupted officials down. They just hate US thus love Russia thus hate the country been invaded by Russia, I assume? >

Lots of governments could benefit from this sort of house cleaning >

Just like Kiev Independent, Recorder has been doing a great job in Romania , sadly the party that was supposed to clean now works hand in hand with old corrupt party and many corrupt officials have migrated between parties . 
So much wasted potential ... >

It’s a dangerous moment in time given that massive aid is flooding into the country. Opportunities for corruption are greater than in peacetime if anything.
I so hope they figure it out.
Slava Ukaini >

But the war also allows more extreme anti corruption methods than peace >

Rule of law is important now more than ever.
But agreed. >

Only Eastern Europeans aren’t suprised there’s corruption in Ukraine.
Like
Duhhh >


“There can be no place in the future Ukraine for those who use state resources for their own enrichment. State resources should serve the people.”

Hahaha. That's rich coming from the US. I mean I agree wholeheartedly but it is still quite ironic >

why? it's not 100% perfect and that's the human flaws, not just the US.. still miles better than most places regarding using state resources.  i know bashing the US is a thing to get upvotes, but let's cut the bullshits and cheapshots. >

It's extra ironic because dealing with corruption is a demand for joining the EU. Not for joining NATO. And 'better than most places' (arguable) doesn't usually give you the right to a high horse. >

lol.. you are stupid and ignorant if you dont think we are better than most places on earth.  just the infrastructure ALONE, who's better than us?  stfu since you have no clue what you are talking about... please  tell me which country using tax money better than the US? >

We don’t even know what the US is using it’s tax dollars for… the Pentagon has failed to give an account of how much money it’s spending and where for the last 5 years. It’s never completed an audit in its history.
Also, nearly 1 in 10 bridges in this country are rated as in “poor condition” by the Federal Highway Administration. And our pandemic response relied entirely on national pharmacy chains to distribute care, PPE, and vaccination bc we have no public interface for mass health. So what infrastructure are you referring to as best in the world? >

i can't speak to every single itemized spending of the pentagon but if you know of any corruptions in spending, please do tell.   you just described every country spending strategy.. actually, you've just describe the spending structure of everyone in this world.  there's always check and balance in the system, not perfect but better than most.
lol bridges.. rated BY US.  majority of bridges in the world are not rated let alone to our standard. but whatever.  you are talking about roads? what country in the world that has better road infrastructure than the US?  we have nice paved to all cities to rurals from coast to coast.  so tell me? who can say the same?
lol what a joke about pandemic.  wtf are you talking about? we're paying them for every single shot we order, that's public fund right tehre.  sounds like you rather be in china with state run shit right?
and if you are looking for a list, what about schools? i remember what i used to live through in another country.. and what school were like, you dont even know..  what about parks?  we have dozens of parks per tiny city with real grass and paved tennis court/basketballs.. all free to public uses .. i remember i had no shoes running playiing soccer on the alleys because there were no parks, how about medical office/hospitals? .. i remember when i never get a chance to but to someone's house who's doing medical work at their home place... there are COUNTLESS NUMBER of infrastructures that YOU  and people like you dont appreciate b ecause you THINK that we can do better, of course we can and we should  (i'm not delusional) but dont bs talkign about how we are worse than the rest of the world because i've seen it with my own eyes.  my kids dont have to worry about msot of that stuff and many more and i'm grateful for it.
anyways, you are defending that guy, YOU tell me, what dont we have that is not better than most of other countries. >

Sometimes it takes a moral clown to take over the clown show. >

The US (prior to the orange debacle) had been trying to rid Ukraine of corruption. My guess is that if Zelensky wants more support and tanks there have been agreements made that he also take action on corrupt officials more aggressively. >

How could this be anything other than excellent? 
My applause to President Zelenskyy once again for Choosing “Do The Right Thing” as a core value of his administration. >

Easy answer: If it ends up destabilizing the Ukrainian government in the middle of a war.  Personally, I think it's something that needed to happen and I'm glad to see it but there is no denying that it will be a serious balancing act on Zelenskiy's part and paints an even bigger bullseye on him personally for those corrupt power players in his own government. >

Do you really think this makes the corrupt actors act more corrupt?  I’m sure they already wanted him dead. 
I’d prefer if he were protected by two Delta squads. >

There are a LOT of present and former Ukrainian politicians/bureaucrats who were, up until now, doing just fine but will now be looking at loosing their cushy positions of power and/or, possibly, long prison terms.  That's a lot of motivation to get rid of him that wasn't there before. >

Or fucks sake, mate. The world is corrupt and it corrupts corruptly. Do you want an award for grasping the most simple of economic manipulation theory? You are better than this. >

If Zelenskyy retires when this war is over and doesn't overstay his welcome/get caught up in scandals, he will go down as the greatest leader of this era imo. He will be on stamps and coins in 500 years. What a legacy for a comedian turned politican. >

He has corruption charges, himself, waiting in the pipeline.