According to the Washington Post, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, suffered major disappointment during a recent meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Western partners once again put forward a demand to the Ukrainian authorities to strengthen the fight against corruption.
As the American publication "The Washington Post" reports, it published a material about increasingly strained relations between Kyiv, Washington and other Western partners in the fight against corruption.
The article says that Ukrainian officials insist that they are fighting corruption as fiercely as their troops are fighting the Russian occupiers in the east.
But Western governments, including the United States, say that is still not enough, and is a source of growing tensions between Kiev and some of its strongest supporters, posing a constant threat to more economic and military aid.
The article talks about high-profile cases and anti-corruption agencies, but as the authors of the article point out, US officials, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, say that is still not enough.
The publication cites the words of Ukrainian officials that these cases testify to concerted and successful efforts to combat bribery. However, all the defendants maintain their innocence and their cases have not yet been brought to trial.
"The fact that the number of cases has doubled does not mean that corruption has doubled. On the contrary: This means that we are working twice as efficiently as before," the publication quotes the head of SAP Oleksandr Klymenko.
Western capitals, WP notes, however, are not so sure about this. Billions are at stake in the fight against corruption in Ukraine - not only their own tax funds, but also Western military and economic aid.
"Many in Zelenskyi's camp say in private conversations that while corruption remains a problem, anti-corruption efforts will distract from what they believe should be the main focus: defeating Russia," WP writes.
At the same time, notes The Washington Post, Ukrainian officials complain that Americans and Europeans often use the stereotype of Ukraine's corruption as an excuse to delay or oppose vital aid, "and that this accusation is not only a cliché, but also evidence of hypocrisy in capitals that have their own problems with corruption."
