There was an element of mercy in the final whistle of the Euro 2012 soccer championships on Sunday night, not for Italy, which was routed by Spain, but for Ukraine, a tournament co-host, which over four weeks of worldwide attention had its already flagging reputation battered even more.
Ukraine was once a darling of the West, with aspirations to join NATO and the euro zone. But, for now, those hopes have been dashed, by economic turmoil after the 2008 crisis and, more recently, by a steady slide back into authoritarianism under President Viktor F. Yanukovych.
