There has been a longstanding trope in the United States that Ukraine is a hopelessly corrupt country, which has abetted the growing movement in favor of withdrawing aid. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia welcome back Tamar Jacoby, director of the New Ukraine Project at the Progressive Policy Institute, to challenge misconceptions about Ukraine’s corruption problem and discuss why a Democratic, Western-oriented market economy in Ukraine is just as vital to US interests as removing Russian troops. How has the war changed the Ukrainian people’s sentiments about their country’s corruption? What have been some of the institutional changes the Ukrainian government has undertaken to combat corruption? Is it necessary for US aid to be conditional on corruption reform?
