WASHINGTON — Twenty-five years after the Cold War’s end, the struggle for Ukraine’s survival as an independent nation has become a test of the character of our time. Since the protests last year on the Maidan, Kiev’s main square, the country has faced two crippling wars: a hot one over its eastern provinces, and another one over efforts to prevent its political and economic disintegration.

The hot war in its rebellious, Russian-supported provinces is tentatively on hold, thanks to the latest Minsk cease-fire agreement. It has killed over 6,000 people and displaced a million more. Several major towns in the region look eerily like ruins of World War II.

The other war — less deadly but no less existential — is not about holding territory but about building a well-functioning state and economy. The months of euphoria on the Maidan have given way to awareness that Ukraine has been a quasi-failing state since the Soviet Union’s collapse. Saddled with an unreconstructed Soviet-era bureaucracy and riven by corruption, Ukraine survives today largely on the good will of several oligarchs. More robbers than barons, these bosses control key provinces, fund private armies and finance divisive factions in Parliament.

The good news is that a free and fair general election last fall brought in a new government with solid competence in several key economic cabinet posts. Moreover, the International Monetary Fund has just approved a $17.5 billion, four-year program that will provide an essential financial lifeline. The I.M.F. deserves credit for boldness; this is a rare case in which the agency has lent financial support during an ongoing conflict.