Ukraine’s infamously corrupt former president ousted following the culmination of the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014 — making an ugly return? Hopefully not, but that’s what some in the business community in Ukraine are saying after recent news made headlines that investment banker and head of Kyiv-based Concorde Capital Ihor Mazepa was detained at the border with Poland on Jan. 18 while allegedly heading to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Mazepa, a vocal critic of pressure on businesses by law enforcement, was detained in connection with a 2014 case that accused him of illegally seizing state land in Kyiv Oblast in 2013.
As Russia launched more than 70 drones at Kyiv on Nov. 25, European leaders were gathering in the capital to participate in the second international “Grain From Ukraine” summit. The timing was no coincidence, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky who likened Russia’s Vladimir Putin to the Soviet dictator Stalin, saying that “if he could arrange another Holodomor for Ukraine, he would do it.” Ukraine created the summit as a way to bring leaders together to find ways to ensure Ukrainian food exports are getting to those who need them most, particularly the Global South.
Ukraine seems to be running circles around Russia in the Black Sea these days. Frequent Ukrainian attacks on Crimea have dealt a blow to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, while vessels are coming and going from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in defiance of Russia exiting the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Despite exporting significantly lower volumes than the grain initiative brokered by Turkey and the UN last year, experts say Ukraine’s new trade route may be picking up steam, the Kyiv Independent’s Dominic Culverwell writes in his latest article.
The war in Ukraine has been one of duality — trench warfare and artillery battles alongside revolutionary drone tactics; cities destroyed and occupied by Russia, and calm(er) ones where life has tried its best to carry forward; references to light and darkness, good and evil. IT Arena, Ukraine’s largest annual tech event, breathed the same dualism, with events, presentations, and panels about topics such as generative AI (ChatGPT is an example) and the role of titanium in revolutionary robotics held in Lviv’s 123-year-old neo-Baroque opera house and just-as-old nearby museums and theaters.
Zelensky thanked Stoltenberg for a "meaningful conversation" during a press briefing following their talks. The president said that both Kyiv and NATO are doing everything they can to ensure Ukraine becomes a member of the alliance as soon as possible.