Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Ukraine’s opposition needs to regroup and rethink its role to start to make a difference.

There is an old saying: “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” Even if one wanted to be against President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration, there is no one worthy of leading the opposition movement at the moment.

The Kyiv Post endorsed Yulia Tymoshenko for president and would do so again, but only because she was the only alternative on the Feb. 7 ballot to government by the current administration of wrong-way Soviet fossils.

This blind, deaf and toothless opposition is contributing to the woes of Ukraine, instead of performing a useful check on the government and a credible alternative for the people.

At least six prominent politicians have declared themselves to be leaders of the political opposition. But they cannot unite or formulate effective strategies. They seem woefully out of touch with citizens.

The United Kingdom would be a good example to follow. Voted out of government this month after 13 years in power, the U.K.'s Labour Party is soul-searching and changing. A leadership contest will take place in fall. The top candidates are analyzing their defeat.

“Too many people felt Britain needed change, but that we didn’t offer it,” wrote former foreign secretary David Miliband in The London Times. In British politics, admitting failures is the first step to overcoming them.

Ukraine’s opposition has so far learned nothing from defeat. On national TV on May 14, when asked what lessons she learned from losing the presidential election, Tymoshenko slipped back to her revolution-style rhetoric, blaming her enemies and never herself.

The show also featured five opposition leaders who demonstrated that inflated personal egos are their most noticeable characteristics. Front of Changes leader Arseniy Yatseniuk and Our Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Kyrylenko don’t have plans. Others – like Anatoliy Hrytsenko, leader of Civil Position – have strategies, but can’t attract followers.

Former President Viktor Yushchenko seems to be finished and out of touch with reality. Tymoshenko could soon go down his road to political oblivion unless she finds her bearings again. The Svoboda Party leader, Oleh Tyahnibok, is the most charismatic, but has no vision that most people will embrace.

Stanislav Belkovsky, a Russian political consultant, suggests in an opinion piece on this page that it is time for Ukraine’s opposition to regroup and rethink its role, then return with new energy and new ideas, badly needed but in critically short supply. We agree.