Takeaways from AP’s report on Ukraine’s battle to defend its democracy in wartime

Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has spent years trying to build a Western-style democracy, although not without some bumps along the way. Shedding bad habits from the Soviet past are crucial to to Ukraine’s goal of joining the European Union and NATO. Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago starkly clarified the stakes of these democracy-building efforts. Yet to repel invasion and remain a democracy, Ukraine has felt compelled to temporarily suspend or limit some democratic ideals. Elections have been postponed, a once-robust media has been restrained, corruption-fighting has slipped down the agenda. Meanwhile freedom of movement and assembly have been curbed by martial law.