If you listen to Western media, Ukraine is just another democratic European country. Most Americans probably imagine that it's something like the Czech republic, when in fact it's 50% poorer than Belarus.
By the way here's an article about Zelensky written 2 weeks ago, so about 1 week before his apotheosis: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/opinion/ukraine-russia-ze...
About corruption being worse, that's mostly anecdotal. I have friends running parts of, or working for major corporations in Russia and Ukraine. But also, look at the amazing wealth of natural resources in Ukraine and compare it to the GDP.
