This pdf seems very appropriate for the world’s current situation with all the partial truths out there. It was written ~8 months before the invasion.
https://ecfr.eu/publication/faltering-fightback-zelenskys-piecemeal-campaign-against-ukraines-oligarchs/Yes, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a real thing, it “...promotes informed debate across Europe…”
About ECFR:
https://ecfr.eu/about/If you decide this white-paper is too much of a slog, imagine the slog of navigating a ship of state run by 6+ oligarchs who own most of the media, members of parliament, the prosecutors and judges at all levels, that can (implied by context) sentence an NGO activist to 7-1/2 years in prison for murder to shut him up. How would you as leader dare to get anything done in the face of prison or assassination?
Two snips from the “Recommendations” at the end of the document:
Other observers think the president is still finding his feet, and learning the hard way how to balance domestic and international pressures. Political analyst Oleksiy Haran says that “what’s happening with Zelensky right now is what we said needed to happen in 2019. His moderate rhetoric is OK. But he’s become more assertive with Russia. He relies more on Ukrainian patriots. Zelensky has taken steps, but there are more to take.” The fightback really could mark the start of a new fourth – reformist – phase in Zelensky’s tenure. But, with every step forward, there will likely still be steps back. “We don’t know how stable this trend is. We haven’t seen too many results. And there are people around him like Yermak who have been prepared to deal with Russia’s proxies in the Donbas.”
Russia looms as large as ever. Many of Ukraine’s recent moves have been driven by domestic security concerns, but there is a risk that Russia will react to them with hostility. Indeed, on 14 May, Putin claimed at a meeting of his own NSDC that Ukraine was becoming the “anti-Russia”, and that the “cleansing” of political space in Ukraine – that is, moves against Medvedchuk (named oligarch in the white paper) – was “news requiring our special attention from a security point of view”. He added: “we should respond to this given the threats being created for us in a timely and appropriate manner”.
It will be clear to the reader that reform will be as important as rebuilding after the war is over.
