There is widespread worry in Ukraine that Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to pressure their government into investigating his political rivals may ultimately harm the country’s work to clean up the corruption it experienced under former president Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych was ousted five years ago and tried for treason in absentia, with his estate on the outskirts of Kyiv becoming the country’s unofficial “Museum of Corruption.”
“When the president of the United States is calling the president of Ukraine and asking to interfere in the work of law enforcement agencies, this undermines all these good governance lessons,” says Daria Kaleniuk of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Centre. Kaleniuk also fears the Trump impeachment inquiry could lead to a loss of bipartisan U.S. support for Ukraine, which could leave the country significantly weakened, especially as it seeks to end a costly five-year war with Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east.
