““Ukraine’s struggle for freedom and its path to Europe should not be tainted by this. However, the fact that investigations are being conducted shows that anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine are working,” Kallas said”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“Trust in wartime is important. Ukraine’s struggle for freedom and its path to Europe should not be tainted by this. However, the fact that investigations are being conducted shows that anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine are working. In addition, the public protest on this issue was very, very strong,” Kallas emphasized.
The head of European diplomacy said that the search for ways to finance Ukraine for the next two years continues.
“Ministers insisted that we urgently need to agree on financing options. Multi-year financing will change the rules of the game for the defense of Ukraine. A stronger Ukraine means a faster end to Putin’s war. Because the sooner Putin realizes that he cannot survive us, the sooner this war will end. Our work on reaching consensus and funding continues,” Kallas said.
Commenting on the reservations of Belgium, on whose territory Russian frozen assets are stored, the official noted that “it is necessary to move further” in the issue of providing Ukraine with the so-called reparation loan.
“I am in no way downplaying the risks or concerns that the Belgian government has… We need to work on a legislative proposal to settle all the risks… If I were Russia, I would also try to ‘wait us out’ and see if we provide funding for Ukrainian defense or not. If not, in the short term, I would sit down at the negotiating table and ask for even more,” Kallas stressed, insisting that of all three possible financing options for Ukraine, the reparation loan is “the most viable.”
Read also: The Ministry of Finance reported the unmet needs of Ukraine in external financing for the next two years
On November 28, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, announced that the head of his Office, Andriy Yermak, had submitted a resignation letter. The head of state thanked Yermko for presenting the Ukrainian position at the negotiations, but expressed his desire “that there should be no rumors and speculations.”
This resignation took place against the background of the search of Andriy Yermak. In the morning of November 28, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau confirmed the investigation of the head of the President’s Office.
Yermak commented on the searches, saying that “the investigators have no obstacles”, “they were given full access to the apartment.”
Earlier, People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak from “Holos” stated that the head of the Office of the President, Andriy Yermak, is listed as “Ali Baba” in the NABU records (“Mindych’s tapes”) in the “Midas” case. The presence of a figure with such a code name in the records was confirmed by the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office Oleksandr Klymenko. According to him, “Ali-Baba” is on tape handing out tasks to pursue NABU detectives, and he may also be behind the attempt to eliminate the independence of the NBU and SAP in July 2025, which was prevented by “cardboard protests.”
After that, demands for Yermak’s resignation began to be heard from the opposition, as well as some members of the ruling team, although his name was not named among the suspects. Zelenskyi supported Yermak for several weeks and rejected calls for his release.