KYIV, March 14 – U.S. President Joe Biden has delayed a phone call with his President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as the U.S. is stepping up pressure on Ukraine to fight corruption, The Washington Post wrote in an editorial published on Saturday.

A similar article with similar language on the same day appeared in Politico, suggesting that Washington has been trying to send a clear message to Kyiv that more progress is required to battle corruption.

“The new U.S. administration is seeking to induce Mr. Zelensky to tackle his own country’s endemic corruption — something that is vital to stabilizing its economy and preserving its fragile independence from Russia,” the Washington Post said in the editorial.

Zelensky, a former actor and political neophyte, was elected in 2019 on a promise to take on the oligarchs, dirty judges and mafia networks that have plagued Ukraine since it gained independence from the Soviet Union.

“But last year he retreated, firing reformers in his cabinet and the central bank president, and stalling on judicial reforms and action against oligarchs,” the editorial said. “In particular, Zelensky waffled on taking on Ihor Kolomoisky, the tycoon whose television network propelled him to the presidency.”

The backsliding has caused the International Monetary Fund to withhold disbursements on a $5 billion loan deal, without which Ukraine may be unable to make debt payments later this year.

“It has also troubled Kyiv’s supporters in the United States, which remains Ukraine’s most important ally,” the editorial said. “U.S. military aid has helped deter further aggression against Ukraine by Russia, which invaded and annexed Crimea and still controls a slice of eastern Ukraine.”

Biden was a strong supporter of Ukraine’s independence as vice president, visiting the country and demanding the dismissal of a corrupt state prosecutor. The new administration is renewing that pro-reform policy: In a phone call to Mr. Zelensky’s foreign minister last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken “highlighted the importance of Ukraine maintaining progress on fighting corruption and implementing rule of law and economic reforms,” according to an official statement. Last week, the administration followed up by sanctioning Mr. Kolomoisky on grounds of corruption, sending an unmistakable message about its expectations.

Zelensky recently took action against one powerful, pro-Russian oligarch, shutting down television networks the oligarch controlled. He has tried to push a crucial judicial reform through parliament. And authorities opened criminal cases against three former officials at a bank Kolomoisky once controlled from which $5.5 billion was allegedly looted.

Zelensky’s office released a statement in response to the U.S. sanction, saying that “Ukraine is grateful to all its partners for support” in “the battle with the oligarchs.”

“But the president must show greater commitment to that fight,” the editorial said. “He should press for judicial reforms, restore independence to the central bank and rule out any move to weaken the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.”

“He should break unequivocally with Mr. Kolomoisky and support criminal charges against him,” the editorial said. “Having survived a U.S. president who sought to corrupt him, Mr. Zelensky now has the opportunity to forge a partnership with Mr. Biden that could decisively advance Ukraine’s attempt to break free from Russia and join the democratic West. He should seize on it.” (wp/ez)