Ukraine Creates New Police Force

The government of Ukraine inaugurated a new police force in one of its most visible efforts to rout the culture of corruption that led to the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovich in 2014.

Reuters reports that 2,000 new officers were sworn in after receiving training from U.S. and Canadian counterparts. One part of their swearing in required an explicit promise not to take bribes, a nasty habit that is and has been perpetuating Ukraine's culture from corruption since its independence from the Soviet Union.

The officers wore uniforms reminiscent of those in the United States, in both color and design.

President Petro Poroshenko said that the purpose of the new officers was not only to enforce the law, but to give Ukrainians hope that the revolution they died for would also lead to real, concrete reforms and the rejection of corruption by the state. This will not be an easy task, as 81 percent of Ukrainians said that they thought the effort to battle corruption was a failure.

The officers will first be sent to patrol major towns and cities in Ukraine and will eventually be sent across the entire country.

It will be some time before the officers are sent throughout the country, if it happens at all, given that the east is embroiled in a civil war with pro-Russian separatists who say the new government in Kiev has no respect for their cultural heritage.

These rebels are supported by the Russian government with arms, supplies, and soldiers. Although Russia officially denies any military involvement, a number of Russian troops have been captured in Ukrainian territory.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in the fighting.