РУССКИЙ
11:08 06.05.2026 •
The fundamental idea behind Ukraine's existence that is shared by both Kyiv and the European Union is that it is a military battering ram and the vanguard of Western security.
What underlies this confidence? Emmanuel Todd explained the reason of this confidence in his book, The Defeat of the West. According to him, the West's clash with Russia through Ukraine has yielded a number of surprises. Here is just one of them: "The fierce resistance of a disintegrating country represents a historical enigma..." "No one could have imagined that Ukraine would find in war a stimulus for life, a justification for its existence." [i]
The West has come to believe in the effectiveness of a country as a weapon. As long as Ukraine resists, no matter the cost, this belief persists. Volodymyr Zelensky is compelled to maintain this image of Ukraine in two ways:
- waging war with Russia (including on other continents);
- exporting the experience of the Ukrainian war and exporting drone technology.
This is the only thing that keeps him and the current Kyiv regime afloat in the eyes of the West.
Ukrainian militants are taking part in the civil conflict in Mali, acting as instructors and drone operators for the anti-government groups: “Ukrainian drones were used in a recent militant attack in Mali, which is in line with Kyiv’s general line on destabilizing African countries,” Crispin Kabasele Tshimanga, leader of the Union of Democratic Socialists party and honorary senator of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told RIA Novosti.” [ii]
What actually hides behind what the West describes as a "noble" confrontation with Russia on all continents, in addition to sending instructors and fighters, and transferring experience and technology, is the sale of weapons to terrorists of all stripes.
Surprisingly enough, the West makes no secret of its intentions. Zelensky said that he had offered Kyiv’s Western partners a cooperation format called Drone Deals providing for the production and supply of drones, missiles, ammunition, and other high-demand military equipment and software: "The export of Ukrainian weapons will be real. Everything the Ukrainian military needs, it gets, and any surplus will be exported." [iii] And this comes amid endless complaints about the shortage of Western arms and ammunition supplies. Moreover, the framework for such "cooperation" will be determined by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, based on intergovernmental agreements. Europe's silence on this matter is no less surprising.
Once again, "Everything the Ukrainian military needs, it gets, and any surplus will be exported." In other words, Ukraine is openly declaring its intention to become an arms hub, selling surplus amounts of European-supplied weapons. Essentially, this is an international corruption scheme, legitimized by Ukraine's "special role in history," "justified" by its confrontation with Russia.
What else to expect now that Europe has embraced militarization as a way out of the economic crisis, and Ukraine is ready to assume the role of an "arms laundromat"? EU countries “democratically” supply weapons to Kyiv to "repel aggression," Zelensky exports the surplus, and the profits are shared between his illegitimate regime, the European leaders, and the arms manufacturers (this part of the Drone Deals is not discussed though, kept under wraps and classified).
It is no secret that the Europeans, for their part, are already busy creating the infrastructure for the militarization of the Old World's economy:
- The re-profiling of enterprises is already underway: the Volkswagen auto giant is handing over its plants to the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, [iv] and German auto parts suppliers are following suit.
- The French automaker Renault will produce drones in Ukraine. [v] This was announced last summer, but since then the trend has shifted from locating production in Ukraine to moving its military-industrial complex to Europe, so the French are likely to manufacture drones at home.
- Ukrainian enterprises are setting up production facilities in Europe; for example, the notorious (due to the Mindich-gate) company Fire Point in Denmark will produce solid rocket fuel for all of Europe, not just for Ukraine. [vi] However, Ukrainian sources are already saying that the contract with the Danes on solid fuel production has fallen through due to the results of anti-corruption investigations.
- With the start of Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine, Europe fast-tracked the Military Mobility program, also known as the Military Schengen, to facilitate the unimpeded movement of NATO military cargos to the borders of Russia and Belarus. This includes modernizing roads, railways, bridges, access routes, and expanding civilian airfield runways. [vii]
- Financial institutions of militarization: “The British government is discussing the launch of a special financial mechanism for JEF (Joint Expeditionary Force) member states. This envisages the creation of a so-called JEF Bank, which will allow participants to take out loans for defense projects at lower interest rates. The funds will be used to finance joint initiatives to deter Russia in the North Atlantic and Baltic Sea, as well as to ramp up industrial production and arms procurement. [viii] These are just some of the initiatives, plans, and projects currently underway in Europe.
The European military infrastructure is intended to serve Ukraine as the very object that creates the pretext for its deployment and existence. The country and its regime will have to conform to the aforementioned goals and objectives. In light of the intertwined interests of Zelensky’s regime and European leaders, chances are high that a scheme will be implemented to satisfy all parties involved:
- Despite obvious corruption, Europeans will demand that Kyiv keep graft and embezzlement within reasonable limits. At the same time, they will apparently try to hush up information about corruption scandals in Ukraine. In other words, nothing will change for Zelensky.
- A parallel, largely symbolic, scenario involves on-the-ground control over Kyiv through local anti-corruption organizations (SAP, NABU), as well as certain economic reforms - or rather, compliance with IMF demands on taxes and other matters - with oversight provided across the government and federal ministries and agencies.
Kyiv will try to adjust these arrangements to suit itself. After all, a similar scheme was created in the recent past, and made everyone happy. This refers to the system and logistics of US assistance and influence created with the knowledge of the Democratic administration. Revenues from this system have been used to fund not only color revolutions but also to ensure corporate profits and individual fortunes, as well as for political struggle. Donald Trump’s presidency cut off most of these revenue streams for Zelensky’s regime.
This presents a serious problem for Kyiv, which during Joe Biden’s administration was flooded with money. Now there is a switch to resource flows coming from Europe. As Ukrainian experts note, a familiar scheme is now taking shape - one that Europeans know from aid they have provided for African countries, when the recipient must present a problem-disaster-catastrophe. Donors then send money… and end up spending it themselves. EU money is already going to EU residents who implement projects in Ukraine. It is noted that even a feasibility study for projects in the EU costs at least a million euros; and those millions come from EU aid to Ukraine. This is a well-oiled system: Ukraine provides the disaster (right now it is war and infrastructure destruction), Europe gives money, which it then spends, plus corruption schemes for suppliers of disaster. As in the case of aid provided for some African countries, everyone in this scheme stands to gain except the country itself, its economy, or its citizens’ welfare.
Mustafa Nayyem, the informational father figure of Maidan, a journalist and later a Ukrainian defense industry functionary, is already decrying these African principles of EU aid: “…the EU is launching a new program to support the defense industry, which largely draws on lessons from the Ukrainian war, but does not guarantee Ukrainian companies an equal place in the future system. This refers to the European Defense Industry Program (EDIP), which should become one of the EU’s key frameworks for 2026–2027. Through this program, the EU plans to strengthen defense production, support joint procurement, develop industrial chains, launch new projects, and separately support Ukraine via the Ukraine Support Instrument. Around 300 million euros are earmarked for Ukraine with separate participation rules. This is an important political signal, but it still fails to solve the main issue, which is Ukrainian industry’s real access to money, production facilities, intellectual property rights, consortiums, and future contracts.” [ix]
For Ukraine, this is only beginning: along with financing the war, comes reconstruction; such programs already exist. In a word, European leaders and corporations are anticipating unprecedented profits, and Zelensky is looking forward to landing new tranches.
At the same time, European leaders and London - both competing with each other and aiming to preserve resources and mechanisms of influence over Kyiv - will maintain some sort of an anti-corruption system and decorative democratic institutions. Kyiv will even be allowed intra-political struggle as long as resource distribution schemes and profit guarantees for politicians and arms dealers are not disrupted. If Ukrainian politicians cross these red lines, democratic procedures and anti-corruption bodies will be brought into action. The issue of legitimacy is secondary. Even though to ensure a semblance of democratic procedure they are not entirely ignoring this, but for now, permanent martial law is seen as the way to go – simple as that.
What we see now is a colonial system of control in the making, along with a subordinate Ukrainian regime. A Colonial System 2.0 applied to Ukraine is not about controlling the country’s territory or extracting its resources for the parent state; rather, it is about maintaining a mercenary state, a testing ground for struggle against Russia, the very country, which throughout History, the West has failed to turn into a colony.
The views of the author are his own and may differ from the position of the Editorial Board.
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[i] Emmanuel Todd. The Defeat of the West, Moscow, AST Publishers, 2026. pp.12, 13.
[ii] https://ria.ru/20260501/mali-2090018983.html
[iii] https://life.ru/p/1868989
[iv] https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/27249069
[v] https://ria.ru/20250608/ukraina-2021647484.html
[vi] https://ria.ru/20260403/zavod-2085035936.html
[vii] https://interaffairs.ru/jauthor/material/3260
[viii] https://tass.ru/politika/27268887
[ix] https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17ZXPpCy4B/?mibextid=wwXIfr (META – banned in the Russian Federation)
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