Trump cites corruption in Kyiv and European stinginess to justify actions on Ukraine. Neither rationale withstands close scrutiny.

Washington Post logoIf President Trump’s goal in withholding U.S. aid to Ukraine was to end the corruption that had plagued successive governments there, last summer was a curious time to do it.

In late May, weeks before Trump ordered nearly $400 million in congressionally approved security assistance frozen, the Defense and State departments certified that the Ukrainian government had taken “substantial actions” toward “decreasing corruption and increasing accountability” and recommended the aid go forward.

New President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose landslide April victory was followed by the election of an absolute parliamentary majority for his Servant of the People party, “had appointed reformist ministers and supported long-stalled anti-corruption legislation,” William B. Taylor Jr., the Trump-appointed senior U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified before the House impeachment inquiry late last month.

View the complete November 11 article by Karen DeYoung and Ellen Nakashima on The Washington Post website here.