Author: Mark Raczkiewycz

KYIV – The alleged mafia-linked mayor of Odesa, Hennadiy Trukhanov, was given five days by the High Anticorruption Court (HACC) on October 11 to post bail worth the equivalent of more than $1 million on one of three most recent criminal charges he now faces in the Black Sea port city. He faces up to...

KYIV – An independent report by the European Union’s (EU) independent outside auditor of finances said the 27-member state body’s reform assistance to Ukraine has proven ineffective “in fighting grand corruption” and establishing the rule of law.

The damning report, published on September 23 by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), stated that the 12.2 billion euros in various forms of assistance and loan guarantees provided to Ukraine since 2014 have “not delivered the expected results.”

KYIV – Two Ukrainian corruption-fighting agencies are reviewing the asset declarations of the president and head of the country’s main counterintelligence agency, as well as the financial transactions of a bank related to them following the biggest leak ever of offshore financial records.

A trove of 12 million files from 14 corporate service providers who cater to clients in financial secrecy jurisdictions was leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which show that 38 Ukrainian politicians use the providers to conceal their wealth and assets.  The leak has been dubbed the Pandora Papers.

KYIV – In what at first appears to be a recreational park in the northwestern part of Ukraine’s capital, lined with tree-canopied serpentine trails, as well as a nestled playground for children, is the site of one of the biggest atrocities of the Holocaust in the country. Nearly 34,000 Jews were executed in the sprawling...

KYIV – At about 10 a.m. on September 22, one or more shooter fired a volley of at least 18 bullets from the woods at a black, four-door Audi sedan along the road between the villages of Lisnyky and Khodosivka in Kyiv Oblast. Inside the vehicle was the president’s top aide, Serhiy Shefir, and a...

KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an impassioned speech at the 76th United Nations General Assembly in which he called on the world’s most prominent diplomatic convocation to do more to help end Russia’s war against his eastern European country.

Given on September 22 while back home assassins attempted to kill one of his top confidantes the same day, Mr. Zelenskyy told the assembly that it needs to live up to its mandate of maintaining peace and order throughout the world.

KYIV – Ukraine’s attempt to reform its unruly judicial system reached a pivotal point on September 13 when the body that disciplines judges failed to appoint three of its own members to a corresponding ethics committee that is supposed to vet members of the High Council of Justice (HCJ).

The body, which mainly hires and fires judges, didn’t appoint three judges to the committee who were to be joined by three international experts that were chosen on September 10 jointly by a delegation of officials from the U.S., the European Union, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Council of Europe, the U.N. Development Program and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

KYIV – Russia’s massive quadrennial Zapad (west) war games ended on September 16 as Belarusian authorities reported that shots were fired at a border sign post from Volyn Oblast in Ukraine.

The Zapad-2021 drills, held partly with military forces in Belarus, included 200,000 soldiers, 240 artillery installations, 290 tanks, 80 aircraft and 15 vessels, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.