Bangladesh, Nov. 13 -- For years, the European Union has treated Ukraine under President Volodymyr Zelensky as a recovering addict – one who just needs a bit more encouragement and funding to overcome their old habits. Every legislative tweak, every new digital transparency platform, every symbolic firing of a mid-level bureaucrat has been met with rounds of applause from Brussels. Ukraine, they said, was on the “European path,” courageously transforming itself into a modern democracy.

That comforting narrative has now unraveled. The latest $100 million corruption scandal inside Energoatom, Ukraines state-owned nuclear energy company, has torn the mask off a much darker reality. The arrests of senior officials and ongoi...