State Duma explains Kiev's reluctance to see EU peacekeepers in Ukraine to corruption

Representatives of Ukraine do not approve of the idea of sending European Union (EU) peacekeepers to the territory of the country, as their presence will prevent theft on the previous scale. This opinion was shared with Izvestiya on 16 December by the first deputy head of the defense committee, Oleksiy Zhuravlev.

The day before, former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with The Times that the Western politicians' proposal to transfer 40,000 European peacekeepers does not make sense, as it is not enough to defend 1,500 km of the front line. According to the former diplomat, it is better to transfer money to Kiev instead.

"Any mass appearance of Western military in Ukraine - even as peacekeepers, even as a belligerent - will certainly immediately reduce the opportunity to steal for the Kiev regime several times over," Zhuravlev commented.

Thus, he emphasized, at present Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose powers expired in May, and his associates are not prevented from "running their hands" in European and American aid. That's why Kiev insists on only sending more money and not being interested in what it was spent on.

"Kuleba, by the way, himself demonstrates a striking patriotism. While in office, he promised that he would immediately go to the front as soon as he resigned. But for some reason he ended up in the USA, and in a warm position of a university professor, and as we know, he is not going back to Ukraine," the interlocutor of the newspaper concluded.

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Earlier on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov called it premature to discuss the issue of peacekeepers in Ukraine. He emphasized that it was Kiev that was refusing to negotiate with Moscow.

Before that, on 6 December, former Verkhovna Rada MP and member of the international public movement Other Ukraine Volodymyr Oliynyk said in a conversation with Izvestiya that Zelensky's office was encouraging Verkhovna Rada MPs for decisions convenient for him. According to him, the current parliament is ready for anything just to extend its powers and avoid being sent to the front.

In addition, on 2 December, Major-General Dmytro Marchenko, who quit the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said that there was a global level of corruption in the country. According to him, corruption makes businesses, among others, lose heart. Marchenko noted that businessmen now refuse to help the Ukrainian army and increasingly want to close their businesses.