You know things are bad when Russophobe hawk Kaja Kallas defines the latest energy-related corruption scandal in Ukraine as 'extremely unfortunate'.

Of course what she means by that is not the scandal itself - everyone already knows that the Ukrainian 'democracy' is corrupt - but the timing right before more EU funding for Ukraine is being considered.

Germany has also called for a thorough inquiry, which is not surprising given that the EU has given the Ukraine energy sector billions.

Not only that but the Council of Europe is also investigating the legality of Ukraine's proposed ban on use of the Russian language:

...to consider removing Article 1.6 establishing liability for deliberate distortion of the Ukrainian language in official documents and texts. • to safeguard the rights of linguistic minorities as well in order to promote a fair balance between the strengthening of the status and use of the State language and the protection of minority languages and to entrust the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, or another duly-constituted institution or body, with the responsibility to monitor the implementation of the legal provisions on the use of minority and indigenous languages.

[https://www.coe.int/en/web/venice-commission/-/opinion-960]

What's not clear is whether Russian is in fact a 'minority language' in Ukraine since most people speak it and attempts to stamp it out by force have not yet reached critical mass, which is also extremely unfortunate in terms of Ukraine's EU candidate status.

Furthermore US Secretary of State Rubio has questioned what else the US can sanction in relation to Russia and has called on Europe to do more, which is a big ask given that Europe has already ruined many of its economies by cutting itself off from Russian energy.

It's all unravelling for the EU.