world mirror
In 2014, violence against the demonstrators on the Maidan escalated. Shortly thereafter, Russia’s war against Ukraine began. Julia Maruschewska was already at the protests back then – and is still fighting for a free Ukraine today.
Julia Maruschewska once demonstrated on the Maidan against corruption in Ukraine. Today, the 34-year-old reformer is trying to break up the encrusted structures in the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
The war is the best time for reform, she says confidently. Ukraine has nothing to lose and actually no other choice. Only if the country manages to reform its institutions will there be any chance of winning the war.
March through the institutions
Maruschewska is tasked with implementing reforms in a ministry that repeatedly makes headlines with cases of corruption. In September last year, then-Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov was forced to resign after his ministry was accused of signing contracts at grossly inflated prices for the purchase of food and winter uniforms.
Five senior officials are currently under investigation. They are said to have embezzled millions when purchasing artillery ammunition. The Ministry of Defense cooperated with the Ukrainian secret service in the investigation. Maruschewska sees this as a success.
Save and create transparency
With an agency founded specifically for the procurement of military goods, it wants to procure military equipment, ammunition, fuel and food in the future only through public tenders on the international market and thus save money.
She explains that her 30-person team is hand-picked: “Some come directly from the front, others ran their own companies before the war or studied at elite international universities.” With their help, says Maruschewska, she has managed to save a billion euros on equipment for the Ukrainian armed forces since the beginning of December alone.
“The time for reform is now”
This should create trust internally and externally. Finally, Ukrainian society is becoming increasingly sensitive to corruption. Especially when it comes to allegations regarding the procurement of military equipment.
International donors should be able to rely on no more funds being leaked away in the future, after all, billions of international funds will flow through the Ministry of Defense in the coming years. Maruschewska should therefore help to create more transparency and efficiency.
She confidently explains that she has support at the highest level, from the president, parliament and the government. It is clear to everyone that there is no time for delay. The defense sector is less reformed than other areas. Now is the time to push forward reforms.
Julia Maruschewska has been fighting corruption in a self-determined Ukraine since the Maidan protests ten years ago.
It all started on the Maidan
This fight against corruption was already a central demand of the Maidan protests in 2014, which were named after the central square in Kiev where most of them took place.
When the corrupt then-President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, refused to sign an association agreement with the EU under pressure from Russia, people took to the streets. Julia Maruschewska, then 24, also joined the demonstrators. It was clear to her: “If we don’t stand up now, nothing will change for a long time.”
When the government tried to suppress the protests with violence and even used snipers, more than 100 people were shot. They went down in Ukrainian history as the “Heavenly Hundred”.
This drove more and more Ukrainians onto the streets. Marushevska’s mother, a doctor, was also at her daughter’s side, spending whole nights on the Maidan and helping to treat injured demonstrators.
100 of the pro-Western demonstrators on the Maidan were shot ten years ago.
One that is still valid today Social contract
Marushevska became one of the faces of the protests in Ukraine, also known as the Revolution of Dignity. In freezing temperatures, she recorded a video that went viral and reached millions of people. The message: The Ukrainians’ fight is self-determined – contrary to what Russia claims.
Maruschewska remembers that Russia had already denied Ukrainians their own will and assumed that the West was behind the protests. It was Ukrainian civil society that called for reforms against corrupt officials, police officers and politicians at the time.
At that time, a strong civil society became the engine of a weak state. A social contract was created that is still valid today. On the Maidan, trust was created and also the awareness that in the end they would have to defend themselves, says Maruschewska:
These experiences on the Maidan, the battles, the fighting spirit, the unity, are the foundation of our strength in the war against Russia.
Is the will to fight enough?
The protests on the Maidan changed the lives of Julia Maruschewska and many Ukrainians forever. This will to fight still drives many people in the country today. But will that be enough?
Maruschewska is convinced that the Russians will not stop. They are developing their military production and conscripting more and more people, strengthening their defense industry, as if they don’t just want to fight against Ukraine. “The way they’re growing, they seem to have big plans.” That’s why Maruschewska wants to move forward with her plans as quickly as possible.
You can see this report on Sunday, February 18th, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. in Weltspiegel on First.