The EU has its eye on some choice Ukrainian real estate. From Andrew Korybko at korybko.substack.com:
In the absence of funds, a significant portion of which was presumably stolen from Brussels’ monthly financial aid, the only recourse is for Ukraine to give its patrons control over parts of the country in exchange.
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton responded to Zelensky’s complaints about the bloc allegedly failing to fulfill its promise to provide Ukraine with 1 million shells by reminding him that they aren’t free. While acknowledging that some were agreed to be donated, others were supposed to have been purchased directly from European industries, which Kiev can afford due to the €1.5 billion per month in financial aid that it receives from Brussels. Because of this, Breton claimed that the bloc was already above target.
To be sure, the EU Commissioner might be inflating some of the numbers that he claims have been provided to that country via both channels in order to avoid drawing attention to Russia’s victory in the “race of logistics”/“war of attrition” with NATO, but the other part of his fact-check is still important. The public has hitherto been under the false impression that the EU promised to donate these shells, but Breton finally clarified that “I said: ‘provide’ and not ‘give away for free’.”
