Author: Zenon Zawada

KYIV – Assessing his first year in office, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko offered an uncharacteristically sober view in which he acknowledged disappointments with the government. He also stressed achievements, such as thwarting Russia’s attempts to split Ukraine. The evaluations and political plans came in a June 4 address to the Verkhovna Rada and a June...

KYIV – It’s been more than a year since former President Viktor Yanukovych fled Ukraine, and no one from his entourage has been arrested by the Ukrainian government, let alone prosecuted, for the murders during the Euro-Maidan protest. Never mind the billions alleged to have been pilfered in corruption schemes. [Former Finance Minister Yurii Kobolov...

KYIV – Ukraine’s Parliament voted on June 18 to approve President Petro Poroshenko’s request to dismiss Valentyn Nalyvaichenko as head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the country’s leading national security body. While the president argued that Mr. Nalyvaichenko had failed to fulfill his responsibilities, Mr. Poroshenko’s critics argued that the dismissal was revenge...

KYIV – For those regretting not having invested in Kyiv real estate during the burgeoning 1990s or the market downturns since then, Ukraine’s current struggles have created a window of opportunity to find some bargains. Though Kyiv and Lviv – two of the most popular destinations for diaspora Ukrainians – are both securely insulated from...

KYIV – In an unexpected move, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as head of the Odesa Oblast State Administration to lead the president’s initiatives in the region, as well as oversee the spending of funds earmarked by the central Kyiv budget. Though he was placed under arrest in his native...

KYIV – The Eastern Partnership summit in Riga on May 21-22 revealed the European Union has lost the boldness it demonstrated in Vilnius in November 2013, when its participants ostracized former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych for declining to sign the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. After the military aggression demonstrated by the Russian government since then, the...

KYIV – Ukraine’s growing pains were ever more apparent during the annual May holidays. Parliament approved legislation in early April that was aimed at shifting the emphasis to the newly created Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation on May 8, instead of the traditional Victory Day on May 9. Yet, even with the national government sending...

KYIV – An unprecedented wave of professionals from the corporate sector joined the Ukrainian government following the Euro-Maidan, some of whom have been hailed as top reformers. Among them is Economic Development and Trade Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, a lifelong investment banker who trimmed his ministry by a third and is pursuing harsh deregulation. Yet his...

KYIV – Valeriy Chaly, a foreign affairs expert and government adviser, is likely to become Ukraine’s next ambassador to the U.S., Kyiv experts and mass media are increasingly reporting. The confirmation will be made not earlier than the EU Eastern Partnership summit in Riga on May 21-22, but it may come as late as the...

KYIV – Dmytro Firtash, the Ukrainian natural gas trader who magnified his wealth with his tight connections to the Yanukovych administration, reportedly was smiling in relief on April 30 when an Austrian court denied an extradition request by the U.S. to try him on criminal charges that include bribery and racketeering. Yet all signs point...

KYIV – Never will be it more apparent that Russia and Ukraine are going their separate ways than this year’s commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Not only will the main commemorations be held on different days, but the Ukrainian state events will be stripped of any symbolism of Soviet...

KYIV – Oles Doniy, 45, has been among the most active defenders of independent Ukraine politically and culturally. He served as a national deputy between 2007 and 2014, but his main achievements were beyond the walls of Ukraine’s Parliament. He was a leader of the student hunger strike of 1990 and the “Revolution on the...