Combating corruption

Almost three years after the Euromaidan revolution, Ukraine’s leadership has fallen woefully short in delivering on its promises to fight against corruption within the judiciary, clean up political party financing and decentralise government functions. The customs service has yet to be reformed, property rights are far from being ensured and state-owned enterprises have not been privatised. Major reforms aimed at combating corruption have consistently been resisted, delayed, manipulated or appear on paper only. The country’s elite must produce more tangible results in order to earn the trust of the citizens and ease the growing fatigue among Ukraine’s international partners. Over the last decade, Ukraine has rarely had a problem with accepting and institutionalising European norms and rules, in theory, but successive governments have been selective in implementing them. In the post-Euromaidan period, Ukraine has introduced several institutional modifications in the name of com...

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is facing a crisis of confidence after his name appeared in the Panama Papers leak and the country's prime minister, with whom he clashed, stepped down. Poroshenko rose to power on an anti-corruption platform following the 2014 Euromaidan revolution, but many of his supporters are disappointed in the slow pace of reforms and an apparent unwillingness to crack down on corrupt officials. A confectionery magnate before becoming a politician, Poroshenko promised to sell his candy business during his election campaign to avoid a conflict of interest. But he has yet to do so, and this failure became headline news when the Panama Papers indicated that he had set up an offshore holding company to shield his assets from taxation. VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky went to Kiev to witness the embattled president push through a new fragile government, as allegations swirled around his offshore holdings.