MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. US politicians’ visits to Kiev in recent days seem to have been orchestrated in order to "curb the appetite" of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and to demand that he report on how the Western aid was spent, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing.
"Over the past week, some high-profile visitors from the United States traveled to Kiev all at once. Apparently, they sought to make sure what level democracy had reached [there] in the past decade. However, among them were not economists or financial analysts, but CIA Director William Burns, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen," the diplomat said.
"It appears that those visitors came from across the ocean to curb Zelensky’s appetites and simultaneously demand a report from him on how the huge funds allocated by the West for the so-called summer counteroffensive were spent," the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
According to Zakharova, Kiev assured its sponsors of the guaranteed success of this offensive, and for their part, they (the US - TASS) persuaded the Kiev regime that the entire story would end with Zelensky’s convincing victory.
"Both were mistaken," Zakharova stressed. "Andrey Yermak, head of Zelensky’s office, came back empty-handed from his trip to Washington on November 13-15. His attempts to reach Congress members and convince them that the Kiev regime and army need more funding failed."
The spokeswoman explained this was due to the deepening rift in the US ruling establishment regarding military and financial aid to Kiev.
"Apparently, amid the current circumstances, the United States is attempting to shift the burden of Zelensky upkeep on its European satellites," Zakharova said. "Against this backdrop, it was not by accident that Berlin announced plans to double from four to eight billion euros in its military aid to Kiev next year.".