Russia exists and there is little Ukraine can do to end paranoid Russia's threat to the country. Corruption in Ukraine is another matter and is within Ukraine's power to break.
Ukraine is still a country at war in its east and that was dismembered after the 2014 Russian invasion, when Crimea was annexed to the Russian federation. Although it didn’t feel like it at the festival, the country remains one of the poorest in Europe per capita, according to IMF data, alongside Moldova and Kosovo, with its growth hit first by the war and later by the pandemic. Corruption is endemic, particularly in the judicial system.
However, the ongoing war in Donbass and Luhansk, the eastern regions controlled by pro-Russian separatists, and the failure of any peace process to make much headway are not viewed generally as the biggest immediate problem in Ukraine. In April, after a Russian troop build-up on the border, some Ukrainians worried the war would tip into large-scale hostilities again – but as long as the conflict remains relatively contained, issues around the rule of law, constitutional reform and corruption are considered more pressing.
Yes. As I've argued, with corruption Ukraine will always be a smaller and weaker version of Russia:
Russia remains corrupt. Which offers Ukraine hope of being strong enough to deter Russia if it can be more than a smaller version of corrupt Russia.
Can President Zelensky fight the corrupt oligarchs?
Maybe rather than fighting them, Zelensky should offer a carrot and stick to Ukraine's oligarchs: operate in Russia alone or face Ukrainian law backed by European and American help. This would make Ukraine less corrupt and Russia more corrupt if it works.
Fight and win the corruption war to defeat Russia.
