The best way to deal with the corruption that plagues post-Soviet states is to integrate into the EU and meet their rigorous standards which must be adhered to before full membership is allowed.
It has worked wonders for all other Eastern European states that took this path.
Ukraine has been trying to join the EU and integrate more closely into Europe since the early 2000’s. Putin has been trying to stop this process since the early 2000’s. When Putin finally lost control of Ukraine - when his puppet was overthrown in 2014 - he immediately invaded and has fomented war inside Ukraine ever since. Putins strategic imperative has been to seize the regions of Ukraine that have huge undeveloped resources of natural gas. He is also seizing coal producing areas in the Donbas.
Ideally Putin would like to change the regime in Kyiv and install a pro-Russian puppet.
Putin has lost the war for one simple reason: he has finally broken the back of his relationship with the West. The West had been buying oil, gas, and coal in vast quantities from Russia, financing Putins mafia-state kleptocracy. Because his invasion of Ukraine was not a swiftly completed one, Western attitudes towards his regime have hardened. The West will no longer do business with Putin.
