Monday Briefing: Ukraine's Other War
Thousands of people took to the streets this past week to protest the Ukrainian government's efforts to hamstring two anticorruption agencies. President Volodymyr Zelensky was forced to back down and restore their independence. The protesters, for now, have won.
This public display of discontent broke a taboo against criticizing the government and undermining wartime unity that has held since Russia invaded. But as I learned from speaking to my colleague Marc Santora, for these protesters, the fight to preserve Ukraine's democratic institutions can't wait for peace. Because those institutions are at the heart of why Ukraine is battling Russia in the first place.
Ukraine is fighting two wars, one against Russia and one against corruption. But in some ways, they're the same war: A war for democracy.
Some of the anger stems from the feeling that Zelensky committed a betrayal. He won in 2019 on an anticorruption campaign. Then, last week, he signed a bill that would have brought two independent agencies fighting graft under government control, just as they were investigating lawmakers from his party and members of his own cabinet. (Zelensky himself is not under investigation.)
But some of the anger stems from the potency of corruption as a political issue. For Ukrainians, it's loaded with implications about the country's history and its future.
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