Russia: EU aid to Ukraine will end up in officials' pockets

MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. The aid that the EU allocated to Ukraine following the international conference in Gdansk, Poland, will once again end up in the pockets of Ukrainian officials, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

The European Commission announced the launch of a European flagship fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine at the conference that took place on June 25-26, Zakharova noted. "The initial capital amounted to 220 million euros. EU officials expect the mechanism to help mobilize up to seven billion euros in investment in the future in order to rebuild infrastructure and develop production sectors, even though no timeframes were announced," Zakharova said.

"Given the Zelensky regime’s extremely high level of corruption and the growing competition in the European Union for the use of funds allocated for Ukraine, there is no doubt that, as has happened before, the money they are talking about will not be spent on what they describe as Ukraine’s reconstruction. A significant part of the money will remain in Europe, and the portion that is handed over to the Kiev regime will end up in the pockets of Ukrainian officials, something we have seen numerous times, including in Western media reports," the diplomat stressed.

According to Zakharova, the conference made it clear that Ukraine's allies are increasingly viewing it as their colony. "Or as a kind of transit point, where each of the participants in the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ seeks to advance their own national interests, although this cannot be described as national interests but the interests of their elites, pursued through the shameless exploitation of Ukraine’s remaining resources," she concluded.