From independent Ukraine’s earliest days in the post-Soviet world right up to the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukraine deservedly owned its reputation as an “oligarch state.” In fact, it was one of the most egregious of its type in Eastern Europe, and it burdened Ukraine over decades.

A handful of super-wealthy tycoons not only owned vast holdings in sectors such as energy production, industry, and mining but also presided over media empires and spent liberally to have politicians—sometimes whole parties—and judges, too, in their pockets. They typically also engaged in prodigious corruption and crime and enjoyed free rein in gray-economy fields such as prostitution and gambling.

From independent Ukraine’s earliest days in the post-Soviet world right up to the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukraine deservedly owned its reputation as an “oligarch state.” In fact, it was one of the most egregious of its type in Eastern Europe, and it burdened Ukraine over decades.

A handful of super-wealthy tycoons not only owned vast holdings in sectors such as energy production, industry, and mining but also presided over media empires and spent liberally to have politicians—sometimes whole parties—and judges, too, in their pockets. They typically also engaged in prodigious corruption and crime and enjoyed free rein in gray-economy fields such as prostitution and gambling.

Ukraine’s oligarchic blight was often cited to smear its legitimacy as a country, much less as a prospective EU member. And because the Ukrainian state accepted these oligarchs as partners, it undermined ordinary Ukrainians’ trust in their leadership—and politics as such. The 2013-14 Revolution of Dignity initiated a slew of legislation designed to rein in the oligarchs and stymie corruption, but that only truncated rather than eviscerated the scourge.

In the 2019 presidential election, Volodymyr Zelensky beat out confectionary magnate Petro Poroshenko, an oligarch himself, foregrounding his own background as a media professional, rather than a captain of industry,........

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