Reform Watch
OP-ED
Kateryna Smagliy: Reform agenda in Kyiv on slow burn, but in Odesa, Saakashvili already delivers
Mikheil Saakashvili gestures during the meeting with Petro Poroshenko in Odesa Regional Administration on July 8.
"I come away from this visit to Odesa with a sense of optimism," wrote US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt after his recent trip there. After I posted Pyatt's article to my Facebook page in an attempt to diminish the growing fatigue of fellow Ukrainians over the mixed results of the new government's reforms, angry reactions followed. Some said positive changes are only visible to Americans, while others ridiculed the unnecessary window dressing and recommended that we distinguish between the loud statements about combating corruption with quiet but real acts to diminish it.
