Any fresh aid to Ukraine from the European Union would not affect the outcome of the conflict there and that such spending would only hurt Europe’s economy, Russia has said.
Yesterday the Financial Times reported that the EU was preparing a back-up plan of funding worth up to €20 billion for Kyiv.
The debt-funded scheme would sidestep Hungary, which opposes such aid to Ukraine, allowing the EU to release the funds to Kyiv quickly, the article said.
Asked about the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed, without citing specific examples, that EU taxpayers were starting to understand that their money was being misspent by authorities in Ukraine.
“Both Europeans and Americans are already well aware ofthe level of corruption (in Ukraine) and they understand that a fair portion of this money is stolen,” Mr Peskov told a regular news briefing.
“This money will not be able to change the course of events (in the Ukraine conflict)… This money is allocated to the detriment of EU economies which are already going through difficult times..,” he said.
Mr Peskov reiterated that Russia would press on with what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine until it had achieved “the goals that stand before us”.
Russia has previously said its military operations in Ukraine are aimed at the demilitarisation and “denazification “of the country.
Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia is bent on an imperial-style land grab.
Earlier this month the EU agreed to open membership talks with Ukraine despite the ongoing military conflict.
However, they could not agree on a €50bn package of financial aid for Kyiv due to opposition from Hungary.
EU leaders, who would prefer a deal backed by all members but also have a plan B that would circumvent Hungary, are expected to revisit the issue at an emergency summit on 1 February.
Ukraine says it is doing its best to crack down on any corruption.
Earlier this month Ukraine’s SBU security service and the Defence Ministry said they had uncovered a scheme for the fraudulent purchase of artillery shells that involved embezzlement of the equivalent of nearly $40m.
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Meanwhile the Kremlin has acknowledged that a Ukrainian attack damaged a warship in the occupied Crimean port of Feodosia in what Ukraine and its Western allies called a major setback for the Russian navy.
Ukraine said its air force destroyed the Novocherkassk landing ship, with President Volodymyr Zelensky joking on social media that the vessel had now joined “the Russian underwater Black Sea fleet”.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu informed “about the damage to our large landing ship” to President Vladimir Putin in “a very detailed report”, Mr Peskov told journalists.
Russia’s defence ministry said that the ship was damaged by guided aerial missiles.
Ukraine’s armed forces claimed that the vessel was carrying “Shahed drones that Russia uses for attacks on Ukrainian cities”.
