Episode
406. Fighting the War Within – Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Battle
- Podcast
- Battleground
- Published
- Jun 2, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3381
- Processing state
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Summary
As the brutal conflict continues, Ukraine is fighting a war on multiple fronts—not just in the trenches, but internally within the corridors of power against a long-standing weapon of Kremlin information warfare: the accusation of irredeemable corruption. In this episode, hosts Saul David and Julius Strauss sit down in Kyiv with Andrii Borovyk, the executive director of Transparency International Ukraine, for a brutally honest assessment of where the country stands today. Borovyk pulls back the curtain on the Global Corruption Perception Index, exploring how Ukraine remarkably managed to stabilize and even improve its score during wartime—a feat virtually unheard of for a nation in conflict. The conversation dives deep into the high-stakes friction between wartime efficiency and democratic transparency, covering: The Reality of the Index: Exactly where Ukraine sits globally, how its score compares to neighbours like Hungary and Slovakia, and why the metric is about external perception rather than a direct measurement of ground-level corruption. The High-Stakes U-Turn: The dramatic, late-night political maneuvering surrounding a controversial bill aimed at bringing anti-corruption agencies under political control, the ensuing public protests, and the resulting erosion of international trust. Watchdogging under Fire: How Transparency International Ukraine operates on the policy and legislative levels, saves millions for the state budget through public procurement monitoring, and the institutional distrust surrounding agencies like the State Bureau of Investigations. The Leadership Report Card: A candid evaluation of Ukrainian leadership—from Yanukovych to Poroshenko and Zelenskyy—in their historical and current fights against corruption. The Path Forward: The heavy influ…