Verification mission: Greece and Germany demanded an audit of aid to Ukraine

The opposition in Germany and Greece insists on checking the use of financial and military aid transferred to Kiev, Izvestia found out. According to them, the money ends up in the pockets of Ukrainian officials, and the weapons are resold to other countries. Berlin is one of the main donors, and Greece has the interceptor missiles needed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces for Patriot systems. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kiev on an unannounced visit with another €1.3 billion in support. Experts believe that due to corruption scandals in Kiev, control over the use of European money will continue to increase.

Audit of assistance to Ukraine in Germany

The EU has not yet accelerated the granting of a loan of €90 billion to Ukraine, despite all requests from the Bank. However, Europe is helping Kiev not only at the level of a supranational association. Each country also allocates funds from its budget. At the same time, the nature of the assistance, of course, depends on the state: for example, Hungary refused support back in 2022, and Slovakia stopped supplying after Robert Fico's election victory a year later. The Czech Republic changed its policy in 2025, and after the change of the Bulgarian government in the spring of this year, Sofia also stopped supplying weapons.

Photo: REUTERS/Alina Smutko

But Germany is one of the main donors to Ukraine, and its aid volume has already exceeded €100 billion since 2022. The German budget for this year provides €11.5 billion for direct military support of the Zelensky regime alone, and €11.6 billion for next year. On October 4, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kiev on an unannounced visit, accompanied by the Minister of Economy and entrepreneurs from the defense and energy industries. According to Reuters and DPA, Ukraine will be allocated €1 billion for weapons and €350 million for energy restoration. Merz justified all this loud support, of course, by the potential Russian "threat" against Europe itself.

Alternative for Germany may create investigative committees in the next convocation of the Bundestag to verify the use of financial and military aid transferred to Ukraine, Steffen Kotre, a member of the German parliament from this party, told Izvestia.

— It is well known that money from Germany and other countries ends up in the pockets of corrupt Ukrainian politicians. It is also known that weapons intended for Ukraine are surfacing in Serbia and other countries. As soon as the AFD enters the Bundestag in the next convocation with 25% support or more, investigative committees will surely be created that will deal with these issues," Cotre said.

Photo: Global Look Press/Capt. Emma Quirk/Keystone Press Agency

The Bundestag's Investigative Committee has broad powers: it has the right to request any classified documents, correspondence and reports from federal ministries and departments, and can summon witnesses and experts to public hearings. The Bundestag is obliged to establish such a committee if required by at least a quarter (25%) of the deputies. AdG currently has 150 seats, or 23.8%.

Future parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in 2029, but the opposition is already calling for an early dissolution of the legislature due to the declining popularity of the ruling CDU/CSU and SPD coalition. According to polls, the AfD is currently in the lead with about 30% support. Recently, the political force won regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt, where it will now form a government, and in Mecklenburg—Vorpommern.

To combat the growing popularity of the AfD, the official authorities decided to practically accuse it of Nazism. On October 3, German Unity Day, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned the country against repeating the fate of the Weimar Republic in connection with the activities of "extremist political forces."

Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen

Indeed, after the collapse of the Weimar Republic in 1933, the Nazi regime was established in Germany. However, Steinmeier can hardly be unaware that it collapsed primarily because of mistakes in economic policy. Mistakes that are surprisingly similar to those made by the authorities of modern Germany, judging by the recent recession.

By the way, the fascists who came to power in the last century, in order to consolidate the nation, immediately began to search for an external and internal enemy. And they found it pretty quickly, for example, in the person of Jews. Just as now most representatives of the so-called Western world find an enemy in the image of Russia. Alternative for Germany, on the contrary, believes that there is no threat from Moscow and advocates economic cooperation with the Russian Federation that is beneficial for the country.

Accurate accounting: EU discusses strengthening control over aid to Ukraine

The pressure on European officials is increased by corruption scandals in Kiev and the increase in expenses of the association itself.

Greece's demands on Ukraine

In Greece, the parliamentary party "Greek Solution" made a similar demand to check the supply of weapons to Kiev, its leader Kyriakos Velopoulos told Izvestia.

"Any sending of military materials to Ukraine is tantamount to high treason. <...> We will check every bullet sent to Zelensky and bring to justice all those who caused damage to the Greek economy, Greek national interests and Greek defense capability," Velopoulos said.

The politician also said that Greece is under constant pressure to force it to increase its assistance to the Armed Forces: transfer interceptor missiles for Patriot complexes and increase military spending. Brussels intervened in the case, but the EC leadership could not achieve what they wanted, admitted the head of the European Diplomacy, Kaya Kallas.

Photo: Global Look Press/George Panagakis/ZUMAPRESS.com

Relations between Athens and Kiev are complicated by the latter's attacks on Greek ships — for example, on August 16, the tanker Skiros was attacked in the Black Sea after loading oil at the Novorossiysk port. According to Kyriakos Velopoulos, Ukraine refused to give guarantees of protection to tankers from Greece.

— No additional confirmation is needed that they (the Greek government — Ed.) asked Ukraine to stop attacks on Greek-owned tankers entering Russian ports. Reports of such a request — and of Kiev's refusal — fully correspond to this logic," said the leader of the Greek Solution party.

Earlier, Vladimir Putin drew attention to the problem of logistics in the Black Sea. He said that Kiev had attacked ships carrying peaceful goods, damaging over 100 of them. In response, Russia attacks Ukrainian warships and equipment carrying military equipment.

Will Kiev's support decrease

A series of corruption scandals in the Ukrainian elite seriously undermines the level of its support in Europe. After the "Mindich case" and the resignation of the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Ermak, former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko was accused of corruption. He is suspected of covering up a network of fraudulent call centers and legalizing the funds received.

Photo: Global Look Press/Sergii Kharchenko/ZUMAPRESS.com

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, for example, admitted that helping Kiev negatively affects her rating. In Germany, more than 56% of the population opposes the expansion of military support or the provision of long-range weapons to Ukraine. This discontent was directly converted into the ratings of the opposition, in particular the AfD. The situation is similar in France: the leading presidential candidate, the head of the National Unification parliamentary faction, Marine Le Pen, has publicly stated that Paris no longer has the opportunity to sponsor the Zelensky regime.

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Brussels is unable to help its ally even with Patriot missiles, but plans to reduce dependence on the United States and NATO.

According to Egor Sergeev, a senior researcher at the MGIMO Institute of International Studies of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the audit in Germany is the most dangerous for Kiev. Berlin is not only one of the main donors, it can also influence decisions at the EU level. In his opinion, we can expect some tightening and strengthening of control over the use of the funds provided. However, the financial flow from Europe will not stop completely, since the European Union needs Ukraine primarily as a political instrument.

In European countries, the issue of verifying the use of resources allocated to Kiev is increasingly being raised. However, this idea has not reached practical realization anywhere. This requires political changes that may happen very soon: parliamentary elections are expected in Greece next year, and France will elect a new president, and an early dissolution of the German parliament is possible.