The justice ministers of the G7 countries have gathered in Venice on Thursday to discuss the fight against corruption and organized crime in Ukraine.
According to the Italian hosts, the two-day meeting in the northern lagoon city is about strengthening Ukraine's democratic institutions and preventing any form of unlawful use of money intended for Ukraine's reconstruction.
The G7 is a group of leading democratic industrialized nations, including Germany, Italy, France, Britain, Japan, Canada and the US.
"The issue of corruption is a problem for Ukraine," German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann told dpa.
Buschmann said the money that seeps away into corruption instead of being spent on equipping Ukrainian soldiers weakens the country in its defence against Russian aggression.
"If Ukraine wants to take the path towards [EU] membership, it must fight the high level of corruption," Buschmann said.
Buschmann said Ukraine's reconstruction after restoring peace in the country would not succeed without foreign aid. However, he said potential donor countries would be less willing to help if large parts of the aid were to seep away in corruption.
According to Buschmann, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was aware of this problem and had made the fight against corruption a focus of his work. "We want to support him in this," Buschmann added.
While the foreign ministers of the G7 countries have been meeting regularly for some time, the gathering of justice ministers is relatively new. Its first meeting was held in November 2022 on Buschmann's initiative. A second meeting followed in July 2023.
A Ukrainian delegation was present in Venice for the agenda items relating Ukraine.