Ukrainian journalist and media expert Dmytro Kolchynskyi argued in an opinion column published on LIGA.net on Friday, September 4, that Western technology leaders, not only governments, now have a stake in Ukraine's stability, a factor he said helps explain why corruption scandals creeping closer to the top of Kyiv's government have barely affected Western support for the country.
Kolchynskyi wrote that corruption scandals in Ukraine are increasingly reaching the highest levels of power, yet this has had almost no visible effect on the West's strategic backing for Kyiv.
He said the simplest explanation is the war itself. The principle of not rocking the boat, he wrote, applies not only inside Ukraine but also among its Western partners, who have their own interest in the stability of a state that contains Russia and remains an important part of Eurasian security.
A new technological elite
Kolchynskyi pointed to a second factor beyond politics. He said Ukraine's stability matters not only to political leaders in the West but also to a new technological elite, for whom the future strength of the United States and its allies increasingly depends on the development of artificial intelligence.
He named Alex Karp, chief executive of the American data-analytics company Palantir Technologies, as one of the most prominent figures in that elite. Palantir was co-founded by Karp and entrepreneur Peter Thiel in 2003 and builds software used by militaries, intelligence agencies and governments, including tools supplied to Ukraine's armed forces during the war with Russia.
Karp's call to Silicon Valley
Kolchynskyi wrote that in his 2025 book, "The Technological Republic," Karp calls on Silicon Valley to turn away from the endless refinement of consumer apps and back toward major state and civilizational projects, including defense, industry and maintaining the West's technological edge.
The piece ran under LIGA.net's opinion section, which carries a note that views expressed there belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the outlet's own editorial position.
