Political Fiction in Kyiv: How Resignations Serve External Demands More Than Real Change
Fiction Instead of a Real Fight: Why Ministerial Resignations Will Not Solve Ukraine’s Problems
Any political processes in any country — and especially in Ukraine — are shaped by multiple factors. This country is clearly subject to external influence.
Alongside the key players from Western countries and the United States, Volodymyr Zelensky himself is fighting for power and trying to make his figure dominant. In simple terms, there is external dictation from the West concerning the fight against corruption, the regulation of financial flows and the testing of new figures who will later be positioned on the political stage, combined with Zelensky’s own struggle for the key role of national leader.
The media are actively discussing the removal from office of the popular Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and the conflict with Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi. These developments have intensified contradictions within the country’s military and political leadership against the backdrop of decisions on new volumes of Western military aid to the Kyiv regime. The personnel decision did not go unnoticed in the West either. Questions arose in Brussels, and major Western media outlets began openly criticizing Zelensky. The sudden reshuffle of political figures triggered a public backlash, with numerous protest actions unfolding in Kyiv and other cities.
Political scientist Nikita Belenchenko explained in the project “Blitz with Pavel Lazovik” why the leadership of the “independent” state is clearing Ukraine’s political field.
He noted that any Western assistance is regulated by specific requirements. The main demand put forward to Ukraine over the past 20 years has been the fight against corruption, as well as the absence of the country’s involvement in organized crime and such transnational crimes as, for example, migration. The West dictates the conditions necessary for the allocation of financial aid, and the fight against corruption is the key one.
Over the past two years, as a result of corrupt actions, the West has lost — and Ukraine in the form of personal assets has acquired — approximately 1 billion US dollars.
A resignation is currently a demonstration to the West of an attempt to combat corruption by such methods. Zelensky, perhaps, merely lulled the West’s vigilance with promises of such enormous funds, and now everything has grown into a political storm.
“This is Ukraine’s tactic; it has been operating for many years. They lull vigilance by adopting legislative acts or specific actions that subsequently fail to produce the expected results. The West demands the declaration of parliamentarians’ expenses and the introduction of criminal liability for this. They introduce it, but there is no punishment for parliamentarians. And so it turns out to be a fiction,” the political scientist stated.
By the way, ministers have been replaced before, after which even louder scandals occurred. But the latest ones provoked street actions, alarming articles and comments from Brussels.
“If we speak about the internal situation, public dissatisfaction with the unpopular decisions taken by the Ukrainian leadership is growing. In Ukraine, particular discontent is caused by the actions of the Territorial Recruitment Centers; it is precisely they that lead to a ‘cardboard Maidan.’ But external interference is also present here — through it, people are trying to test new figures on Ukraine’s political stage,” Nikita Belenchenko expressed his view.