Author: Zenon Zawada

KYIV – The governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Valeria Gontareva, is Ukraine’s most influential woman, according to a survey released two weeks ago. Yet she’s also being targeted for dismissal as part of a campaign being led by another powerful Ukrainian woman, opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. The former prime minister joined oligarch...

Dear Editor: Let’s cut through the hysteria and examine the facts. Long before Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump exchanged compliments, Bill Clinton received a phone call from Mr. Putin in 2010 thanking him personally for delivering a speech for $500,000, paid by a Russian investment bank that was promoting shares in a company that controlled...

KYIV – After attending the NATO summit on July 8, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko took an unprecedented step towards Ukrainian-Polish reconciliation by visiting the Volyn Massacre Victims Memorial in Warsaw. He placed a wreath, lit a candle and knelt on his right knee before its main column. Mr. Poroshenko’s gesture – the first official visit...

Charges mark first major anti-corruption case in post-Maidan period KYIV – Ukraine’s Parliament voted on July 5 to strip political immunity from National Deputy Aleksandr Onyshchenko and arrest him for criminal charges related to the alleged theft of $64 million through fictitious firms set up in the natural gas trade, which has long been plagued by corruption....

KYIV – Ukraine’s Parliament voted on June 16 to set quotas for Ukrainian language content on commercial radio, approving legislation that served as a compromise between two bills – one favored by radio lobbyists and the other by language activists – that were rejected two weeks earlier. The measure earned 268 votes and was strongly...

KYIV – Ukrainians are finding themselves stalled on the road to integration with Europe after officials revealed bureaucratic hurdles that emerged in recent weeks. Some are the fault of the Ukrainian government, but the biggest factors are related to the large inflow of migrants, according to reports. On the national level, the ratification of the...

A bill to boost Ukrainian-language music content on prime-time radio was supported by 260 musicians, including Ukrainian rock legend Oleh Skrypka. KYIV – Despite an abundance of popular, high-quality music in the Ukrainian language, much of it doesn’t get primetime airplay on Ukrainian radio stations. It’s most often played after midnight – a practice that...

When Mykhaylo, a cousin of my wife, told me a year ago that he was being dispatched to the Donbas front, I couldn’t believe it. Rather, I couldn’t imagine it. He’s as skinny as a pencil, as fragile as glass and can barely raise his voice above street noise as he speaks. I’ve never seen...

KYIV – Ukraine’s government this week adopted this week significant systemic reforms to its judiciary and changes to law enforcement, largely in response to Western demands that were pent up for months owing to the nation’s political crisis. Early in the week, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko announced his changes, including the appointment of new deputies...

KYIV – Nadiya Savchenko, the former Ukrainian military pilot who was kidnapped by pro-Russian forces on Ukrainian territory in June 2014, was released to Ukraine on May 25 after nearly two years in captivity during which she endured what is globally recognized as a show trial that convicted her on false charges of complicity in...

A victory for Ukraine and Crimean Tatars KYIV – Crimean Tatar R&B/soul-style singer Jamala succeeded in drawing the world’s attention to the Russian government’s persecution of her people by winning the annual Eurovision Song Contest with her song “1944” about Stalin’s mass deportations and genocide. Jamala finished second among public voting and in second place...

KYIV – Ukraine’s Parliament voted on May 12 to approve the president’s nomination of Yuriy Lutsenko as procurator general. He will be expected to accomplish what his three post-Euro-Maidan predecessors failed to do: prosecute and convict corrupt key state officials, both past and present. Mr. Lutsenko’s election came after the Verkhovna Rada voted earlier that...