Very often we underestimate the changes occurred in Ukraine lately. Nevertheless, international organizations conducting their monitoring researchers, confirm that Ukraine carries out its general course of reforms not worse and sometimes even better than the other countries including post-soviet and east-European ones. Such a fact has been confirmed with the Failed States Index, provided by the Fund for Peace. Tens of thousands of articles from global and regional open-source media were collected from May to December 2004 and 12 indicators were set. The first annual Failed States Index includes 12 indicators such as uneven economic development along group lines; sharp and/or severe economic decline; criminalization or delegitimization of the state; progressive deterioration of public services, widespread violation of human rights, intervention of other states or external actors, etc. After having calculated the 12-indicator scores, a total score may be drawn out for each country determining its belonging to a certain zone. E. g. a country is in the "Alert" zone if its aggregate score is 90 or above. A country scoring between 60 and 89.9 is in the "Warning" zone. A country with an aggregate score between 30 and 59.9 is in the "Monitoring" zone. Some countries will fall into the green or "Sustainable" zone, if their aggregate score is below 29.9. The general rating of Ukraine is 39, so the county fits "Monitoring" zone. However, many CIS countries have a lower Index. It enables us to state that Ukraine is ahead of them regarding its reform scores. The total score of Belarus is 44, Azerbaijan - 50, Kazakhstan -68, Kirghizia - 65, Russia - 59, Tadjikistan - 49, Turkmenistan - 70. Uzbekistan is the only CIS country listed by the Failed States Index which rating is considered better than Ukrainian - 24. Inquiry: The Fund for Peace founded in 1957 by investment banker Randolph Compton, the Fund for Peace is a nonprofit educational, research and advocacy organization based in Washington. Its mission is to prevent war and alleviate the conditions that cause war. MIGNews