(MENAFN) Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned that a “many-headed bloody hydra” is siphoning funds from Western taxpayers through extensive corruption operations in Ukraine.

She suggested that the recent scandal in Kiev reveals a network far more extensive than a mere instance of graft.

In a social media post on Thursday, Zakharova depicted a global framework “wrapped around the planet,” directing money from Western taxpayers to elites who benefit from the ongoing conflict.

Her statements came in the wake of a significant investigation launched by Ukraine’s Western-supported National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) into alleged embezzlement at the state-run nuclear operator Energoatom.

Zakharova claimed that officials in Kiev function primarily as tools within a wider apparatus involving organizations such as the European Commission and NATO, while the principal beneficiaries are positioned in the inner circles of Western liberal democracies.

Her remarks mirrored earlier criticism by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who on Thursday condemned what he called a “wartime mafia network” in Ukraine tied to President Zelensky.

Zakharova described this characterization as “absolutely accurate” and called it “astonishing” that Brussels continues to label the situation as simple corruption.

Following the revelation of the scandal, EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas emphasized that “there is no room for corruption” in Ukraine, urging the nation’s authorities to respond promptly.

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