ERKKI KOORT ⟩ The combined force of Ukraine's two biggest enemies is crushing

In this image, provided by the Ukrainian Intelligence Agency SBU on Monday, June 6, 2016, SBU agents detain a suspect at the Yahodyn border crossing on the Ukrainian-Polish border, Ukraine. Ukraine's intelligence agency SBU said on Monday it has thwarted a plot to attack soccer's European Championships in France by arresting a Frenchman who wanted to cross from Ukraine into the European Union armed to the teeth. (Ukraine's Intelligence Agency SBU Press Service photo via AP) Photo: /AP

• Corruption remains a major challenge in Ukraine
• Europe led by Juncker forgot to support Ukraine
• The fight against corruption has improved, but we must be ready for future strikes as well

The Ukrainian people and Kyiv have two biggest enemies - Russia and corruption. They are at each other's service and support each other intentionally and unintentionally. When supporting Ukraine, we must not make the mistake of accepting their uncompromising struggle with only one of them - writes Erkki Koort, security expert of Postimees and the Estonian Academy Security Sciences.

Before the 2014 exchange rate change in Kyiv, Ukraine had very little awareness of its own country. Even such a large percentage of the population, which was formed by the policemen themselves and their closest family members, did not trust the police there. Every week, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs reached the one and a half million dollars in bribes collected from traffic violators. A classic pyramid scheme worked, where each level took part of the bribe, and some went to the next level.

The situation slowly began to change, as people developed a stronger sense of the state, and the war in Donbass brought new people and leaders into the system. They no longer had the same mentality, but of course there were setbacks and there will be more.

On February 24, 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine on a large scale, and it seemed that now the whole country is consolidating against Russia and backing corruption. Unfortunately, this has not happened, and examples that confirm the challenge continue to emerge.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has done a lot to fight corruption. When he took office, he gave a very good message that officials should not put his picture in the cabinet but look at their children and the future of Ukraine when making decisions. He has also reacted forcefully to manifestations of corruption.

One of the most extensive was the dismissal of the entire leadership of the military commissariats, as a bribery scheme was revealed, which made it possible to buy oneself free from mobilization. Separately, the existence of the Monaco battalion is also mentioned mockingly, which marks the young elite who fled there. Among the cases related to Estonia, the case of Slava Ukrain comes to mind first.

The role of the European Union

On November 8, 2023, news came about the European Commission's proposal to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. According to the commission, Ukraine has fulfilled 90 percent of the recommendations. At the same time, the commission also emphasized problems with law enforcement and corruption.

A few months ago, former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker gave an interview to the German publication Augsburger Allgemeine, in which he considered Ukraine's accession to the European Union very unlikely. As a reason, Juncker pointed out that in his opinion it is an extremely corrupt country.

According to him, everyone who has had any contact with Ukraine knows that the country is corrupt at every level of society. Juncker said in the interview that Ukraine is not yet ready to join the Union, despite its efforts, because it has not carried out comprehensive domestic reforms. Juncker also expressed in the interview that he is very angry with those in Europe who tell Ukrainians that they will immediately become members.

Juncker is partially right, but his contribution as President of the European Commission would also have required a greater effort. It was during his time that Ukraine remained largely without a discernible future in Europe and largely alone with its own problems. In his «State of the Union» speech, Juncker mentioned Ukraine and its challenges in relation to corruption only in 2015. In 2016, he spoke about the need to enforce the Minsk agreements, and in 2017 and 2018 he did not even mention Ukraine.

In 2017, Estonia held the presidency of the Council of the European Union, and at that time one of our priorities was to support Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. A large number of member states were skeptical about it, and several dignitaries in Estonia were also against bringing this topic into focus. Through all these delays, Ukraine lost time and so did the European Union.

Why is this important?

Three different examples from the level of society, unit and individual. By mid-October, it turned out that a third of the aid sent to the Ukrainian army had not arrived. This meant that the whereabouts of 3,000 shipments were unknown. At the beginning of 2023, Ukrainian customs registered the use of 653 military aid shipments. Data on the so-called non-lethal equipment have been published. A third less aid means more dead, wounded and suffering.

In 2014, there was a case where Russian attack groups wanted to enter Ukraine through a border crossing with weapons and offered bribes to border guards. They drove the invaders back to Russia. However, the attackers looked for the next point, where they were allowed to cross for money, and now an attack was organized on the original border point, where the border guards were killed.

On November 6, Major Hennadi Chastyakov, assistant and close friend of the commander of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, Valery Zaluzhnyi, was killed in an explosion on his birthday. While at first the cause of death was considered to be a hostile attack, it later turned out that a colleague had given the major a bottle of whiskey and six grenades for his birthday. One of them exploded. Grenades were a Western weapon aid, and this is probably not a unique incident.

It must be recognized that former European Commission President Juncker is right that corruption at various levels in Ukraine continues to be a problem. At the same time, Juncker also has a great responsibility that this could continue, and that Ukraine was largely left alone in 2014/2015. The worst thing to do right now is to engage in the self-delusion that there is no problem if we don't talk about it and things will somehow resolve themselves.

True, we must understand that the situation is not normal, because as a country at war it is difficult to fight on two fronts, but nothing can be done. To defeat Russia, corruption must also be suppressed, and here we as allies must be demanding. However, we must not wait, as Juncker suggests, but we must give Ukraine a clear perspective so that they have a clear and credible goal to strive for.