Ukraine's two-front war: Battling Russia and a bombshell corruption scandal

KYIV

Russia ignored every call by all leaders of the world to stop the war. It continues killing civilians in all parts of Ukraine indiscriminately. Especially suffering are those who spoke Russian by habit, in the occupied territories or on the frontline. Russia does not protect them; rather, it poses the greatest danger to them. As a result, many have switched to the use of Ukrainian at home. Speaking emphatically, Victor Pinchuk, a top industrialist and philanthropist of Ukraine, hailing from the city of Dnipro, confirmed this during his annual Yalta European Strategy summit. Pinchuk said how in 2022 the world underestimated Ukraine, while in 2023 Russia was underestimated, and that the moments of truth that emerge on the eve of its 35th year of existence are to achieve an end to this war without betraying the sacrifices of its people and carving a place for Ukraine in the EU.

While the fight goes on at the external front, a shocking internal bombshell cracked after a year and a half of investigation called Operation Midas by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators collected more than a thousand hours of recordings of conversations and made shocking revelations of an alleged money-laundering scheme in the state energy sector. At the centre of the story is the state-owned company Energoatom, which manages all nuclear power plants and whose annual turnover reaches UAH 200 billion (around $4.75 billion). Under the cover of officials, a shadow scheme laundered money and also blocked the protection of energy facilities in the midst of Russian attacks, when their decisions determined whether there would be electricity in the homes of millions of Ukrainians.

Among the suspects were people known to President Volodymyr Zelensky, such as his old friend and business partner Timur Mindich, former minister of energy and justice Herman Galushchenko and Ihor Myroniuk, an ex-adviser to Galushchenko and former deputy head of the State Property Fund, and many others, including retired law-enforcement officers. The office used for the scheme was located in the centre of Kyiv, belonging to the family of the traitor Andriy Derkach, a former Ukrainian MP who fled to Russia and became a senator of the Russian Federation. Especially difficult was the position of Zelensky, who demanded effective anti-corruption actions and accountability in the energy sector. Zelensky’s chief of staff and chief peace negotiator Andriy Yermak stepped down following an anti-corruption raid at his residence, although he was not identified as a suspect.

Corruption scandals occur in many countries, including Ukraine. It remains to be seen how well this case will be handled by the court. Reportedly, arrests have been made of the suspects who could not flee Ukraine. Most political barometers of the world have recorded marked changes in Ukraine. Despite the war and missile strikes, discussions here are open. So should be the investigations. They also highlight the treachery of the fifth column, the internal enemy. Both former president Viktor Yushchenko and former mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko say how internal collaborators have always destroyed Ukraine from within.

Zelensky underlined the contours of this all-out war more clearly, stating that tolerance of any crime within or without will not enable victory. He stressed forceful answers to all challenges; unchanging conditions are military aid to Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and no change of territory by force, despite his readiness to discuss a 28-point US-Russia peace plan, which was drawn up without Ukraine and Europe participating in it.

Tacit acceptance of Russia’s war crimes by the democratic world in various platforms and festivals sends ambiguous messages to the cause of peace—a painful fact expressed by most Ukrainians and their leaders. The 28-point plan contains proposals that most people consider unacceptable or weird, condoning the aggressor and penaliing the victim: such as the Zaporizhzhya atomic power plant to be managed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, with a 50/50 split of power generation between Russia and Ukraine, Russian control over Crimea and part of Donbas, etc. European leaders have not approved these ideas and called for a start of negotiations along the current frontline with an unconditional ceasefire. Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said they are not aware of the peace plan, but demanded Zelensky sign it, failing which he threatened more strikes.

How does Ukraine look today? The moments of truth that will stay forever are the valour and courage of its people. The most significant one is that Ukraine has the world’s best-performing army with optimum use of available resources. That Russia could not take more than one per cent of territory for a thousand days testifies to that. Ukrainians unanimously acknowledge that the most important protection for Ukraine is the Ukrainian army. This is the reason why the 28-point plan proposes quantitative limitation of the Ukrainian army!

Ukrainians are the largest drone producers in the world. With only ten manufacturers in 2022, today there are 500 of them producing four million drones per year, more than all NATO countries combined. The US capacity is only 100,000 military drones a year.

Connected with this comes the issue of security guarantees, which are largely watered down in the 28-point plan. Ukrainians are unanimous that it should not be a repetition of the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, disabling Ukraine from its right to defence. While Ukrainians would not be against the presence of European troops, there are other opinions in Europe. Yet one may say that this issue, along with a viable enforceable guarantee, is repeatedly transpiring—something never discussed at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Europeans are aware that this war is integrated with their security, and there is an overall awareness that Europe cannot be ignored by any future US-Russia summit on Ukraine.

Against this backdrop, there are reports of Russia advancing along the frontlines. But Russia’s gains are minuscule against the loss of lives. It is said that Pokrovsk has fallen when it has not. The theory of big lies is more forceful than the feeble voice of truth. There is heavy fighting all along the frontlines. All over the country life goes on amidst severe power cuts of 12 to 16 hours daily in big cities, including the capital Kyiv.

Many are debating that this is almost the end of the war; others say this is just the mid-point of a long war. To examine these nuances, this is the best occasion to read through the words addressed to the readers by all the exclusive interviews. Many worlds reveal themselves before us like a kaleidoscope, both from the top as well as the grassroots.

To recall, when I talked to a soldier close to the Pokrovsk region, he recalled, “Remember, Christmas will come. And the whole world will rejoice and sing ‘Carol of the Bells’. The world should know that this song, originally called Shchedryk, is a gift of Ukraine by composer Mykola Leontovych. And it was composed in Pokrovsk.” Yes, I thought, whether Pokrovsk falls or not, more important for us to know is that it gave us Shchedryk, the eternal Christmas melody, essentially Ukrainian.

Mridula Ghosh, formerly with the UN, is associate professor of international relations in Kyiv.