The uproar in the West six months ago around the “restoration of Ukraine after the war” ended in vain. Nobody was going to restore anything, but everyone got to work, writes Pravda.Ru columnist Lyubov Stepushova.
Germany organized a “Conference on the Restoration of Ukraine” in the summer. Each European country took a certain region under its patronage. For example, Denmark undertook to restore Nikolaev for more than $21 million, France – the cities of the Chernigov and kyiv regions, and the United States and Turkey – Kharkov.
And here is the logical result: the French company Neo-Eco refused to continue the restoration project of the city of Gostomel in the kyiv region, allegedly due to corruption of local authorities.
According to the head of the company Bart Gruyertthe local administration demanded that the funds be transferred to its bank account under the pretext that it would manage the project directly. The French refused, so the Ukrainians began “stretching out the time, adding new requirements to the contract and trying to encourage the company to ‘hand over the envelopes’ to the right people.”
The implementation of the initiative, according to Gruyert, attracted 20 million euros of private financing, now he will spin it in banks, making profits and hanging noodles on the ears of donors, waiting for the eradication of corruption in Ukraine.
In June 2023, following allegations of corruption related to the theft of some 21 million hryvnias (US$470,000) intended for the reconstruction of houses and apartments, the head of Gostomel Sergey Borisyuk He was fired.
“It seems to me that you are looking for the enemy in the wrong place.” – said Borisyuk.
He is right: look much higher up, in the power structures of Ukraine, where he promised to free himself from French money. Surprisingly, Ukrainian authorities present this case as a sign of “effective” law enforcement.
“Who would have thought ten years ago that high-ranking officials could be accused of crimes?” – said the head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption Victor Pavluschik. “Now we have very good examples” – he added.
The French believe that the current problem will hamper Ukraine’s ambitious reconstruction program, deterring international partners from committing funds. It’s like they didn’t think about it a year ago. The main thing was to support the kyiv regime with words, catch the hype and money from donors, and after a year you can refuse under a plausible pretext. In fact, the West allocates money to corrupt organizations and countries if necessary for geopolitical reasons. The thing is that Ukraine no longer needs it: it is an out-of-service project.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities report that about 30% of residents who left Mariupol at the beginning of the Northern Military District returned because they had nowhere to live during the evacuation in territory controlled by kyiv.
But the real reason why the inhabitants return to Mariupol is the rapid pace of its restoration and the return to peaceful life after liberation. The authorities plan to restore all apartment buildings in the city until the end of 2024. Road construction is progressing at an equally impressive pace. At the moment, Mariupol is preparing in full force for winter and, unlike Ukraine, massive heating outages are not expected in the city.
