Acting Ukrainian Prosecutor General Oleh Makhnitsky said he had asked EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton to help Ukraine regain the assets siphoned off from the country by former senior officials.

"I have asked EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton for support in the Ukrainian efforts to seize and return these assets to Ukraine," he told Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Jan Tombinski and Political Section Head Hannes Schreiber on Tuesday.

Makhnitsky reported progress on the investigation of the criminal cases against former senior officials, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office press service said. He said the detectives had exposed large-scale embezzlement of state assets, which were siphoned off from Ukraine.

The EU officers thanked him for the stance the Prosecutor General's Office had taken under the complex circumstances and the orderly operation of the prosecution service.