Justice is possible: what PrivatBank's victory in London means for Ukraine

Ukraine, represented by the state-owned PrivatBank, has won the case of PrivatBank v. Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov in the London Court. The issue is worth several billion dollars.

But in reality, it is much more than that. Because this is a decision that the impossible is possible. Because when Kolomoisky and Co. considered themselves gods in Ukraine, when the nationalization of PrivatBank was only whispered about, when they attacked and threatened the people who started this case, few people in Ukraine believed that justice was possible.

That PrivatBank can become a profitable state-owned bank. And that it is possible to sue in London and win. It is possible to freeze all the assets that Kolomoisky and Boholyubov have.

This is a victory for both justice and specific people. Those who ran the NBU and deserved the hatred of society, because society, of course, does not like oligarchs, but society does not like those people who are told not to like by oligarchic TV channels even more.

Yes, I'm talking about Valeria Gontareva and Kateryna Rozhkova. Those who, being the head of the Ministry of Finance, were not afraid to file a lawsuit in London, even though there was no political will to do so. This had the signs of a special operation. Yes, I am talking about Oleksandr Danyliuk.

Those who did not let this court stall. Those who did not forget to talk about the $5 billion of taxpayers' money that had to be spent to save the bank after the oligarchs had been withdrawing depositors' money for years. By the way, they did not withdraw it alone. And this should not be forgotten either .

And this is a story that state-owned banks can operate normally in Ukraine. Effectively. Profitably. That independent Supervisory Boards work. And as a result, the mischievous hands of politicians can no longer reach the banks' coffers.

And now we see a victory in London. Where PrivatBank wins a court case for several billion dollars. And now we see that other state-owned banks, Oschadbank and Ukreximbank, are taking over the Gulliver shopping center. And they are forcing us to pay the bills that were issued before 2014. Back when there was no control. There was no regulator.

The story is also about the fact that many people want to go back to the time when there was no such thing as "external control". When you could just take money as if it were yours. These people really miss the old days. And they are very active in telling us that we should not listen to the West. And it's good that last week they met with considerable resistance. And our Western friends. And Ukrainian youth.

It is also a story about memory. That you can't forget quickly. Reputation cannot be ignored. You can't ignore connections. And this is a story about change. Which have been happening very quickly over the past 10 years, but also imperceptibly at the same time. And we can forget what Ukraine was like before the Revolution of Dignity. And this should not be forgotten .

Because if you forget, you can succumb to the voices that will tell you how good it was before all these reforms.

Is this the end? Can we spend these billions of dollars and celebrate the final victory? Unfortunately, not yet. Because the oligarchs will definitely appeal. Which they will also lose, of course. But they will continue to stall for time. Hoping that Ukraine will return to the same good old days. When everything was possible. And they had nothing to show for it..

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