Ukraine’s new president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has had just one month in office, and he still needs to define his political priorities and the extent to which he will be his own man. Cautious optimism seems appropriate now. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has in his start been saying the right things. He has made clear that fighting corruption will top his domestic agenda.
The perception that Poroshenko failed to curb corruption and reduce the influence of the country’s oligarchs was a major factor in his electoral defeat. To the extent that Zelenskyy has a feel for politics—and his campaign and victory suggest he does—he presumably understands that delivering a real fight against corruption will be a key benchmark by which the electorate judges him.
On foreign policy, Zelenskyy has signaled significant continuity. He has reaffirmed Ukraine’s goals of full integration in European and Euro-Atlantic institutions by expressing a desire to join the European Union and NATO. He made his first overseas trip as president to Brussels to meet with EU and NATO leaders, is traveling to Paris and Berlin June 17-18, and will host an EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv on July 8.
Zelenskyy has proposed a referendum on NATO membership, though he has not said when he would hold it or what question would be put to the voters. Some worry that this is a potential poison pill that could derail Ukraine’s membership bid. Officials close to Zelenskyy counter that a referendum would secure the Ukrainian public’s buy-in and make it difficult for politicians later to change course.
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