“Ukraine has an extraordinary chance to turn things around,” editorial, The Washington Post, July 26 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/ukraine-has-an-extraordinary-chance-to-turn-things-around/2019/07/26/e2dda3ac-ae2d-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html?utm_term=.c24e3ccc1f8e):
Ukraine’s political elite has repeatedly blown chances to stabilize the country and ensure its independence from Russia. Now, a whole new group will have a chance. On July 21, frustrated voters replaced more than 60 percent of the Parliament, relegating the parties that have run the government in the past to the margins. The big winner was neophyte President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called the snap election after taking office in May. His party, stocked with first-time candidates, won an absolute parliamentary majority …
… Mr. Zelensky could transform his country and ensure its future if he uses his unprecedented authority to push through long-overdue legal, institutional and economic reforms. He should act quickly.
The president has sent some positive signals. He already asked parliament to end its members’ immunity from prosecution, authorize the prosecution of officials for graft and approve the replacement of the chief prosecutor. He has suggested that he will nominate an economist with no political history as prime minister; reports say he is considering a couple of respected technocrats known for their pro-reform views. …
… If he succeeds, he could transform the region’s political climate and deal a potentially crippling blow to Mr. Putin’s authoritarian model and his imperalist ambitions. The United States, which under the Trump administration has been supportive of Ukrainian sovereignty, should do whatever it can to help. But it will be up to Mr. Zelensky and the new political elite he has created to show that Ukraine can succeed.
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The Ukrainian Weekly uses the English-language spelling of the Ukrainian president’s last name – Zelenskyy – that is used on the official website of the president of Ukraine (president.gov.ua). President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s last name has also been rendered as Zelensky, Zelenskiy and Zelenskyi by various sources.