BOMBSHELL: $100M Corruption Shocks The EU—Here’s What Ukraine Hid

Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Useful Idiots, LLC

News Commentary, Politics, News

4.6 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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Click here for the full interview with Marta Havryshko and Nicolai Petro: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-ukrainian-scholar-exposes?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

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There’s been a lot happening in Ukraine: there is talk of a new peace proposal floated by the US and Russia, and meanwhile, Ukraine internally is in chaos over a corruption scandal touching Zelensky and his inner circle.

We spoke to two experts: returning guest Marta Havryshko, visiting assistant professor at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, and Nicolai Petro, professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island and author of The Tragedy of Ukraine.

Useful Idiots: What is going on with this corruption controversy in Ukraine?

Marta Havryshko: First of all, I must say that it’s not only a corruption scandal. It’s an entire political crisis. This energy scandal is part of a bigger picture, and different security services and state agencies are all involved in these corruption schemes crafted by Zelensky’s friends.

The corruption scheme involves kickbacks with Ukraine’s energy production at a time when a lot of Ukrainians are going without power because of all the Russian attacks. So now, Ukrainians are sitting without water, electricity, and heat for twelve, fifteen hours per day in some cities.

They are outraged. And they are thinking, ‘Why is this happening? How is it possible that ordinary Ukrainians are demanded to go to the front line, to send their sons away, but at the same time our political elites are making money out of their sufferings while we sit for hours without heat, water, and electricity?’

Useful Idiots: We have word of yet another new seismic development in the Ukraine proxy war. There is talk now that Ukraine has been presented with a new sort of ultimatum from Trump. It includes ceding all of the Donbas to Russia and a reduction in the size of the Ukrainian military. What is your understanding of where things are both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table?

Nicolai Petro: The battlefield situation is getting increasingly critical for Ukraine. There are some assessments that we’re reaching a tipping point at which it is possible that the front line collapses at several points and then the situation will be dire indeed. And perhaps it is to prevent putting Ukraine and its European backers in that kind of dire situation that the current proposal has been floated…

Subscribe for the full interviews with Marta Havyrshko and Nicolai Petro.

00:00 Intro

01:23 Trump threatens death penalty for Congressional Dems

07:24 Marta Havryshko interview

07:44 The corruption scandal taking down Zelensky

28:13 Trump's 'peace plan' ultimatum for Ukraine

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	They are outrage and they are thinking why, why is, why this is happening?
0:07.0	You know, how it possible that you know ordinary Ukrainians are demanded, you know, to go to
0:14.0	the front line, to send their sons, to sit hours without heat, water, and electricity.
0:21.6	But at the same time, our political elites are making money out of their sufferings.
0:34.6	Hello and welcome to Useful Idiots. I'm Katie Helper. I'm Erin Matte. Thank you so much for being here. Our website is Useful Idiots Podcast.com. This week's show, we check in on the proxy war in Ukraine. It's been a while since we covered that. So we figured we get an update with two very informed guests, Nikolai Petro and Marta Havritschko.
0:55.8	There's a lot going on in Ukraine.
0:57.3	Zelensky's facing a massive corruption scandal.
0:59.1	And there's all this new buzz around potential peace talks and a secret deal being reached
1:06.0	between Russia and the U.S.
1:07.8	On that front, I say, hold your horses.
1:10.6	We've gone through this so many times where people think, oh, my God, Trump has caved to the U.S. On that front, I say, hold your horses. We've gone through this so many times where people think, oh my God, Trump has caved to the Russians and the next day Trump is saying, yeah, maybe I'll send some Tomok missiles to Ukraine. So you never know what this guy, but there's a lot to catch up on and we'll do that and a whole lot more on today's show. But first, we have a weekly segment called the Friday Free For All, which is available for useful to get subscribers only. For free subscribers, here is a preview. This week, a group
1:36.1	of Democratic lawmakers, veterans of the U.S. military and intelligence community, including
1:41.5	Senator Mark Kelly, put out a video addressing U.S. service
1:45.3	members saying, hey, you know, under the law, if Trump gives you an unlawful order, like say,
1:50.7	you know, arresting or attacking a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil or illegally assassinating a fisherman
1:58.6	off the coast of Venezuela, you don't have to follow it, right?
2:02.2	But it's just a lot. Well, Trump didn't like that. And he responded by accusing these
2:08.8	Democrats of sedition and even calling for their death. Seditious behavior punishable by death.
2:15.4	Okay. Well, sure. Why not? Why not call for the execution of sitting members of Congress because they're asking service members to follow the law?
2:24.1	By the way, we're really sounding like libs these days on the show. I mean, this is, you know, you might as well just, you might as well just subscribe to MS now.
2:31.8	Yeah, it's not us, it's Trump.
2:34.6	Really, we would like to not be doing this.
	...

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