Zelensky and his entourage embezzled at least $400 million from US funds meant for diesel procurement last year, Hersh claimed in a new article on Substack, citing a CIA estimate.

Kiev has allegedly been buying diesel fuel, which is essential for the war effort, from Russia itself – and in the process skimming large sums of US funds earmarked for diesel payments.

Reports had earlier surfaced about how oil products originating in Russia had made their way to Ukraine through Bulgaria and Latvia. The scheme involving the Baltic state, which was reported in detail by the Latvian television program Neka Personiga, may have violated the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions.

An expert cited by Hersh compared the level of corruption in Ukrainian procurement to what was seen in Afghanistan, when a US-backed government was in charge in Kabul. According to his sources, ministries in Kiev compete to set up front firms in order to export weapons and ammunition, with the relevant officials profiting from kickbacks. The US government, meanwhile, has stated that it has seen no evidence of Western-supplied weapons in Ukraine being diverted elsewhere.

Hersh cited an intelligence source who referred to the January meeting between Zelensky and CIA Director William Burns. The US official allegedly presented a list of 35 generals and ministers known to the CIA to be corrupt. Senior Ukrainian officials also complained that Zelensky “was taking a larger share of the skim money than was going to the generals,” the source explained, comparing the meeting to a scene from a 1950s mob movie.

Hersh contends that the Ukrainian leader’s response was to fire staff from the Cabinet of Ministers, regional administrations, and other parts of the Ukrainian government. Kiev claimed the move was part of its anti-corruption strategy. Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov, who became mired in a scandal over purchases of overpriced food for troops, was widely expected to be sacked at the time, but he survived the purge.

Hersh’s sources blamed Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan for the ongoing crisis in the US government, which allegedly suffers from discord between the White House and intelligence community. The two top foreign policy officials have shown “strident ideology and lack of political skill” over the Ukraine conflict, according to the sources.  RT

‘Quite a few’ EU leaders agree with Macron on autonomy from US – Michel

Macron last week urged Western Europe to pursue “strategic autonomy” so that it would not be “caught up in crises that are not ours.” He cited a potential US-Chinese stand-off over Taiwan as an example.

“The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” the French leader said during a visit to China.

“Some European leaders wouldn’t say things the same way that Emmanuel Macron did,” Michel commented on Wednesday. But “I think quite a few really think like Emmanuel Macron.”

Michel, who made the remarks in an interview with a French television program, noted that “there has been a leap forward on strategic autonomy compared to several years ago.”

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US senator warns Europeans over ‘picking sides’

FILE PHOTO: French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and President of the European Council Charles Michel (R). ©  Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via Getty Images

The alliance between the US and the EU remains strong, he assessed. But “if this alliance with the United States would suppose that we blindly, systematically follow the position of the United States on all issues, no,” the official added.

Discussions in the EU about increasing its autonomy from the US, including by creating a pan-European military force, have been sidelined amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels has firmly supported Washington’s drive to punish Russia with sanctions and arm Ukraine against it, even as decoupling from the Russian economy contributed to inflation and hurt the competitiveness of European businesses.

According to assessments in Moscow, the EU has deviated from its original purpose of economic integration and become an extension of NATO, putting US geostrategic goals before its own interests.

US-Chinese relations have been deteriorating for years, as Washington has accused Beijing of undermining a “rules-based order.” The Chinese government said the US leadership was stuck in a “Cold War mentality” and perceived the balance of interests between global powers as a “zero-sum game.”  RT

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