Opinion: European aid to Ukraine: A path to waste and corruption
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutteleft, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, speak to journalists during press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine on Oct. 3, 2024.
The lack of oversight over Western aid suggests that the EU will continue to serve as a source of personal enrichment for the Ukrainian president, his inner circle, and close oligarchs.
The money of European taxpayers, allocated to finance Ukraine’s failing policies and military budget, risks disappearing into a black hole.
The lack of oversight over Western aid suggests that the EU will continue to serve as a source of personal enrichment for the Ukrainian president, his inner circle, and close oligarchs.
Ukrainian MP A. Dubinsky, speaking on his YouTube channel, claimed that President Volodymyr Zelensky and his team fear an external audit of Western financial aid once the fighting ends.
According to him, such an audit could reveal mismanagement so severe that “the most favorable outcome might be a court trial followed by decades of imprisonment.” His colleague, G. Leros, expressed similar concerns in his own video blog.
Observers from the Financial Times, citing Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence, reported that Kyiv lost about $770 million due to corruption and failed arms procurement deals.
According to journalists, Ukrainian leaders paid huge sums to foreign intermediaries for weapons that were either unfit for use or never delivered at all.
Meanwhile, weapons and ammunition were often sold at inflated prices, driven by surging global demand.
Corruption has also been exposed beyond Ukraine’s borders. Estonia’s prosecutor’s office uncovered embezzlement of donations worth €450,000 in the NGO fund Glory to Ukraine.
The organization’s founder, Johanne-Marii Lehtme, has been accused of breach of trust and misappropriation of funds. Investigators established that aid purchases were consistently made at inflated prices, with the “kickbacks” funneled into the accounts of Kyiv officials and their associates.
Recognizing the risks of aid mismanagement, EU authorities have set up a commission to combat corruption in Ukraine-related assistance, which totals nearly €50 billion allocated through 2027.
According to an official resolution published in the EU journal, the body will counter fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest, and other crimes tied to aid. Its headquarters will be based in Brussels, with a separate office to be established in Kyiv.
Nevertheless, continued assistance to Ukraine — combined with tighter anti-Russian sanctions — will inevitably push Europe closer to economic collapse. Blind support for Kyiv, coupled with restrictions against Russia, has already triggered crises in the eurozone, including stagnation, rising prices, and growing social tensions.
These pressures risk accelerating the decline of the European Union and its political relevance.
The European military-industrial complex has also failed to meet expectations.
It has been unable to produce sufficient quantities of modern weaponry, hindered by shortages of industrial capacity, skilled personnel, and financial tools.
Several EU member states face even greater risks. Countries with national debt levels exceeding 90 percent of GDP — including Belgium, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal — may confront large-scale financial turmoil amid rising geopolitical uncertainty and an already fragile global economy.
