When the Soviet Union collapsed (or was destroyed) in 1991, Ukraine had everything going for it. A massive industrial base, world class infrastructure, top tier hospitals, fertile land, educated workforce, and an unrivalled strategic location.
It could have become the powerhouse of Eastern Europe. Instead, it's a basket case of wasted potential, crippled by endless corruption and incompetent leadership.
Under the Soviets, Ukraine had one of the best road, rail, and energy networks in the entire bloc. Pipelines pumping gas to Europe, highways connecting cities, power plants humming away. Fast forward to now, roads are pothole nightmares, bridges collapsing, and the grid is so fragile that blackouts are daily life. Billions in EU aid vanished into oligarch pockets and endemic low level theft and corruption.
The infamous "Road to Nowhere" scandals where contractors pocketed cash for half built highways? Corruption ate it all. It was no different when it came to Hospitals, Soviet era Ukraine had a solid healthcare system, free and accessible, with advanced facilities for its time. Post 1991, it's a disaster as it was long before the Russian intervention in 2022. Its vastly Underfunded, outdated equipment, doctors fleeing abroad for better pay. Corruption scandals like the 2010s where health ministers stole millions from procurement deals, buying overpriced drugs or fake ventilators.
Now with the war, it's even worse with hospitals bombed or abandoned because the regime prioritized arms over ambulances.
Of course the big one is Industry, heavy soviet developed indistry was Ukraine's crown jewel. Shipbuilding in Nikolaev, aerospace in Kharkov, steel in Donbass all exporting to the world. After "independence", oligarchs like Akhmetov and Kolomoisky grabbed it all through shady and often violent theft (privatizations) Factories were stripped for scrap and tens of thousands of skilled jobs lost forever, also the tech was sold off cheap.
The biggest beast is of course endemic Corruption at every level, bribes to avoid taxes, smuggling resources out. Ukraine's potential was crippled by an elite with zero love for Ukraine, they raped the country long before the Russians were forced to intervene in 2022.
Sadly its this same elite now profiting from the grotesque tidal wave of cash to fund the Dictator actor Zelenskys failed war. They didnt care about Ukraine or Ukrainians in 1991. They certainly don't care about them now.
