Author: Zenon Zawada

KYIV – The new Cabinet of Ministers that emerged in Ukraine in mid-April drew swift skepticism from Western authorities as it was cleared of foreign-born reformers, among them Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, who was being considered to lead a technocratic government. Instead, insiders – many with shady pasts – took the reins. “If the elites...

KYIV – During a mid-April phone call, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko received his latest exhortation from U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden to combat corruption in order to receive the latest U.S. financial aid. Yet Mr. Poroshenko himself and his political associates are alleged to be involved in numerous corruption scandals that have been brewing in recent...

KYIV – Liubov Kozhura was at a Mariupol playground with her 10-year-old grandson Mykola and 6-year-old granddaughter Liubov on what was an otherwise ordinary morning on January 25, 2015, when a missile came crashing down, killing them both. Though unable to compensate for such tragic losses, the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC) made its...

KYIV – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confidently declared this week that Ukraine’s political crisis is over after the new Cabinet was elected on April 14. Yet the voting in the Verkhovna Rada at the April 21 session proved otherwise. Rada Chair Andriy Parubiy asked national deputies to vote to include on the daily agenda a...

Continuing the listing from last week, following are the Cabinet ministers approved on April 14 by the Verkhovna Rada. (The brief profiles were prepared by Kyiv correspondent Zenon Zawada.) Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, 51: He has served for 18 months, largely responsible for managing finances and personnel rather than developing military strategy. He is currently...

KYIV – Ukraine’s Parliament voted on April 14 to approve a reshuffled Cabinet of Ministers, including its new prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman, the parliamentary chairman who has long been a close political ally to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The votes put an end to a political crisis that began in mid-February, when the pro-Western Samopomich...

KYIV – Citizens of the Netherlands rejected their government’s ratification of the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement in an advisory, non-binding referendum held on April 6, giving the Russian government a symbolic geopolitical victory in its war against the Ukrainian state. About 61.1 percent voted against their government ratifying the agreement, compared to 38.1 percent who...

KYIV – A key reason for the Samopomich Party’s popularity (it ranks first in some polls) has been the passionate pursuit of reforms by Yegor Soboliev, the 39-year old deputy head of the party’s parliamentary faction, who holds the chairmanship of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Corruption Prevention and Counteraction. Under his leadership that began...

KYIV – The Verkhovna Rada voted on March 29 to dismiss the highly unpopular Procurator General Viktor Shokin after months of pressure from reformers and American diplomats, who were disappointed with his resistance to and alleged sabotage of anti-corruption efforts. Mr. Shokin was dismissed on the eve of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s March 30 working...

KYIV – The Samopomich (Self-Reliance) party has emerged as among the most popular in Ukraine, even ranking first in some polls. And although its founder and head Andriy Sadovyi is among Ukraine’s most popular politicians (having served as Lviv mayor since 2006), a key reason for Samopomich’s success has been the passionate pursuit of reforms...

KYIV – Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian military pilot who has become the nation’s globally recognized symbol of resistance to Russian aggression, was found guilty on March 22 by a Russian court of participating in the murder of two Russian journalists and illegally crossing the Russian border. She was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment in a...

KYIV – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko saw his options narrow this week as he seeks to resolve Ukraine’s deepening political crises, namely the war in the Donbas and the formation of a new coalition government. His position has gotten so limited that he is considering appointing political players once considered to be off limits for...