Last Friday, the European Commission said it would reduce support under the Ukraine Facility program from a €4.5 billion ($5.2 billion) installment to €3.05 billion ($3.5 billion), citing Kiev’s failure to meet commitments on anti-corruption reforms. The European Union is citing Ukrainian ruler Volodymyr Zelensky’s crackdown on anti-corruption as the reason for removing aid.
Ukrainskaya Pravda has reported that the program has been de facto frozen, alongside another mechanism, ERA Loans, with a total of $60 billion at stake. It’s difficult not to notice that at one point, Zelensky had demanded that the West give him Russia’s frozen assets in order to continue his war. He wanted to commit straight-up theft, and that’s not the only corruption that was highly noticeable coming out of Ukraine.
Zelensky Continues War Efforts, Demanding Russian Frozen Assets
Zelensky also interestingly has purchased a mansion in Egypt before trying to crack down on the anti-corruption agency.
Ruler Zelensky Buys A Luxury Mansion In Egypt
Even war hawks in the United States are slowly figuring out the problem.
Ukraine Cannot Be Trusted, Says Former Trump Advisor
The Ukrainian government has placed two departments established with Western support to address rampant graft in Ukraine – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) – under the authority of the country’s prosecutor general. –RT
After a wave of criticism, Zelensky has vowed to reverse course on his anti-corruption scheme. Several of Zelensky’s close political supporters, particularly in the Defense Ministry, are in danger of becoming caught in the organization’s crosshairs, should he walk back his decision. But if he doesn’t, his war is over because military aid will be suspended to the point that he won’t be able to continue. It looks like it’s more important to Ukraine to keep the unwinnable war going.
Zelensky has claimed that the move was an effort to eliminate “Russian influence” in government agencies, but the EU and Western allies were not convinced.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed that Ukrainian governing bodies were designed not to combat corruption but to give Western governments leverage over Kiev.
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