Time has published an article on why the second visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the United States was very different in atmosphere and effectiveness from the first, the triumphant visit in 2022. One of the reasons, according to Time, is the widespread corruption in the Ukrainian government, including in the Presidential Office itself.
In August, Bihus.info, a Ukrainian news outlet known for investigating bribery, published a damning investigation into Zelenskiy's top economic and energy policy adviser, Rostyslav Shurma, Time writes.
The investigation revealed that Shurma, a former member of the Party of Regions and CEO of Zaporizhstal, has a brother who co-owns two solar energy companies with power plants in southern Ukraine. Even after the Russians occupied that part of the country, cutting it off from the Ukrainian grid, the companies continued to receive state payments for the electricity they produced.
The NABU reacted to the publication by opening embezzlement proceedings against Shurma and his brother. But Zelenskyy did not dismiss his advisor. Instead, in late September, Shurma joined a presidential delegation to Washington, D.C., where the Times article's author saw him alongside high-ranking congressmen and officials from the Biden administration.
Shortly after his return to Kyiv, the author visited Shurma in his office on the second floor of the presidential administration.
"The atmosphere inside the complex has changed in the 11 months since my last visit. Sandbags had been removed from many windows as new air defense systems, including US Patriot missiles, arrived in Kyiv, reducing the risk of missile attacks on Zelenskyy's office. The corridors remained dark, but soldiers no longer patrolled them with assault rifles, and their sleeping bags and other equipment were removed. Some of the president's aides, including Shurma, had returned to civilian clothes instead of military uniforms.
When we sat down in his office, Shurma told me that the allegations against him were part of a political attack paid for by one of Zelensky's internal enemies. "Shit was thrown," he says, patting the front of his starched white shirt. "And now we have to explain that we are clean." It didn't seem to bother him that his brother is a major player in the industry Shurma runs. On the contrary, he spent half an hour trying to convince me of the "gold rush" that awaits renewable energy after the war.
I suggested that, amid concerns about corruption in Ukraine, it would be wiser for Shurma to step into the shadows while he is under investigation for embezzlement, or at least not accompany Zelenskyy on his visit to Washington. In response, Shurma shrugged his shoulders.
"If we do that, everyone on the team will be a target tomorrow," he says. – "Political games are back, and that's a problem.
Background. Earlier, Politico wrote that the United States has prepared a secret development strategy for Ukraine, with the fight against corruption at the center of it.