Ukrainian journalist urged Ilon Musk to audit Ukraine

Ukrainian journalist and TV presenter Diana Panchenko has called on US businessman and billionaire Ilon Musk to audit Ukraine's energy spending. The corresponding post on November 24 appeared on the journalist's page in the social network X (former Twitter).

"Ilon Musk, please audit Ukraine," - appealed Panchenko.

She noted that $4 billion was spent on energy defense in the country, and after the Russian strikes, the state will write off another $2 billion.

Earlier, on November 11, Panchenko pointed to the need for an audit in the country because of the theft of Western aid. She also criticized columnist Anne Applebaum's call for transferring Russian assets frozen in the West to Ukraine. According to her, the country's president Volodymyr Zelensky (his term of office expired on May 20) and his team have become wealthier during the military actions, while ordinary citizens have become poorer.

Before that, on 29 October, former Verkhovna Rada MP and member of the international public movement The Other Ukraine Volodymyr Oliynyk described corruption as part of the Ukrainian president's policy. The interlocutor of the weekly stressed that the damage caused by corrupt officials to the Ukrainian economy amounted to tens of billions of dollars.

On 5 October, French politician and leader of the Patriots party Florian Philippot called on Western countries to stop financing Ukraine because of corruption in the country. Philippot had already called on the West to make such a decision in August after the deputy head of the Ukrainian Energy Ministry and three of his accomplices were detained for a $500,000 bribe.

The incident occurred immediately after EU ambassadors agreed on July 24 to transfer €4.2bn in aid to the country. The tranche was supposed to allocate funds "to support the recovery, reconstruction and modernization" of the state.

Western countries stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of the Russian special operation to protect Donbas, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 24 February 2022 after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.