The ministry has spent €387,000 on its platform, which is designed to promote the EU’s Global Gateway initiative. It envisages an investment of €300 billion to build new infrastructure in different countries.

“After initial puzzled conversations with the approximately five other people who showed up, I was left alone. I am alone.”

tweeted Vince Chadwick, who was one of the few who showed up to the event.

I’m here at the “gala” concert in the EU foreign aid dept’s €387k metaverse (designed to attract non politically engaged 18-35 year olds — see story below). After initial bemused chats with the roughly five other humans who showed up, I am alone. https://t.co/ChIHeXasQP pic.twitter.com/kZWIVlKmhL

— Vince Chadwick (@vchadw) November 29, 2022

“24-hour beach party” in the metaverse

The concept of the event is clear enough: the aim is to introduce young people to the bloc and bring them into a space where they can learn more about the EU’s activities.

A spokesperson for the Commission told Euronews Next that “the target audience is 18–35-year-olds who identify as neutral about the EU and are not generally engaged in political issues”.

Euronews Next has contacted the European Commission for comment. A spokesperson pointed out that the Gala event was the online event held on 29 November from 9 to 10 pm.

“Our statistics show that 300 people were contacted during the gala and over 5,000 people on that day (29 November)”,

the spokesperson states.

“We believe that metaversion is an innovative approach to reaching young people who do not read newspapers and websites, while recognising that the user interface can be made more convenient and appealing”,

he continued.

Attracting the younger generation to the political issues on which their future depends is proving difficult. The EU’s efforts have proved futile for some, but neither the enticing concept nor the multi-million organisation has been a success.

A warning message showed up just before all the sites went offline. It reproduced both the Ukrainian flag and map being crossed out. A part of this message says:

“Ukrainians!…All information about you has become public, be afraid and expect worse.”

NEWS IN KYIV: Several Ukrainian government websites down due to a major a cyberattack. Below is the @MFA_Ukraine website now. It reads in part: "Ukrainians!…All information about you has become public, be afraid and expect worse." Sites of MOD and Education ministry also down. pic.twitter.com/3lbA06Q3Fl

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) January 14, 2022

Oleg Nikolenko, the foreign ministry’s spokesperson, said in a message to ‘The Guardian’:

“As a result of a massive cyber-attack, the website of the ministry of foreign affairs and other government agencies are temporarily down. Our specialists have already started restoring the work of IT systems and the cyber-police has opened an investigation.”

The attacks have been condemned by Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg and Josep Borrell – the EU’s top diplomat. The EU’s political and security committee and cyber units are planning to meet with the aim of deciding how to respond and to support Kyiv. He explained:

“We are going to mobilize all our resources to help Ukraine to tackle this. Sadly, we knew it could happen.”

According to him, it’s difficult to say who is the culprit and he will not blame anybody because at that moment he has no proof. Stoltenberg said that an agreement will be signed between Ukraine and Nato in order to give Kyiv access to Nato’s malware information sharing platform. Ann Linde, Sweden’s foreign minister, commented:

“We have to be very firm in our messages to Russia, that if there are attacks against Ukraine, we will be very harsh and very strong and robust in our response.”

The US Embassy in Moscow did not give an immediate response and did not comment on the situation.