François Picard is pleased to welcome Daria Kaleniuk, Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center. Ukraine's latest defense leadership shake-up, as interpreted by Kaleniuk, is not as a routine personnel change but rather a struggle over the future direction of wartime governance. Her analysis frames the dismissal of the reformist defense minister as a contest between competing institutional logics: one prioritising transparency, competitive procurement, civilian oversight, and data-driven reform, and another associated with entrenched networks, military hierarchy, and resistance to institutional change.
Rather than focusing primarily on personalities, Kaleniuk argues that the controversy exposes deeper tensions between anti-corruption reforms and vested interests operating within the defence establishment.
And she sees this internal battle within a broader democratic context, highlighting the role of civil society mobilisation, parliamentary oversight, legal constraints, and Ukraine's relationship with its international partners. Her central argument is that the durability of Ukraine's wartime resilience depends not only on battlefield effectiveness but also on preserving public trust, institutional accountability, and credible anti-corruption safeguards.
She raises broader questions about how democratic states can reconcile military necessity with civilian control and governance reform during periods of existential conflict.
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