Zelensky: Delay in granting macro-financial aid to Ukraine is either crime or mistake

MOSCOW. Aug 5 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described a delay in granting macro-financial assistance to Ukraine as "either a crime or a mistake."

"Every day and in various ways, I remind some leaders of the European Union that Ukrainian pensioners, our displaced persons, our teachers and other people who depend on budget payments cannot be held hostage to their indecision or bureaucracy," the Ukrainian media quoted Zelensky as saying in his traditional address on Thursday evening.

"Eight billion euros for Ukraine are currently suspended. And such an artificial delay of macro-financial assistance to our state is either a crime or a mistake, and it is difficult to say which is worse," he said.

"I don't want to name the European country that is slowing it down now. Let's believe that this is still a mistake and that it will be corrected," Zelensky said.