Building Ukraine 2.0
private investment, but government money will be needed first. The London conference set out to galvanise support from development banks and Western backers as well as tempt businesses to consider a reformed Ukraine as a place to invest. Many countries have a vital interest in Ukraine succeeding and Russian aggression being seen to have failed, but these are straitened times.
Governments will not raise enough money, especially if they protect their aid budgets, as they should. Instead they should find a legal process that allows them to treat the $330bn or so of Russian state money they have frozen as a fund for paying out compensation to Ukraine. Next comes good government.
The war has shunted aside many of the oligarchs who held Ukraine back. Their place has been taken by a cohort of entrepreneurs and activists, many of them with a background in technology. The government of Volodymyr Zelensky has moved against some corruption, including detaining the head of the Supreme Court on allegations of bribery.
However, Western officials warn that, for all his strengths, Mr Zelensky is bored by the detail that dogged reform entails. When Ukraine finally holds elections it risks lapsing back into the old, corrupt politics. That is why accession to the European Union is so important.
It creates an incentive for reform and the application of the law. It also submits the government to scrutiny and creates allies for those who dream of transforming their country. Finally comes security.
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