Photograph: Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images)As Russian troops and missiles streamed over Ukraine’s borders on the first day of its invasion, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy took a moment to shake hands with his main rival, former president Petro Poroshenko. The show of unity quieted Ukrainian politics for years and bolstered his wartime leadership. These adversaries include Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption agencies, opposition parties, political activists and media outlets. “The country has finally seen what the expression ‘blood money’ means,” Poroshenko’s political party said in a statement about the corruption scandal. Zelenskiy’s wartime cabinet, the statement said, is “unprofessional and corrupt.”Protests in Kyiv last July after the Ukrainian parliament voted to toughen restrictions on two of the country’s independent anti-corruption agencies.

Source: The Irish Times November 20, 2025 15:16 UTC