Ukraine juggling the balance between democracy and corruption

Ukraine is not good on the corruption front, but it’s getting better. But even though it’s been seven years without an election, it’s very hard to do it when bombs are dropping on the voters.

It has been seven years since the election that brought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to power in a landslide powered by widespread revulsion at the rampant corruption in the government, writes Gwynne Dyer. Photograph courtesy of the Ukraine Office of the President

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

August 24, 2026

LONDON, U.K.—“Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia,” said Mykhailo Fedorov, who was until recently Ukraine’s defence minister. “We must find a legal, safe, and realistic mechanism which will allow Ukraine to renew its full democratic process even in the condi...

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