Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has sharply criticized the European Union's financial support for Ukraine, labeling it as funding a "wartime mafia network" connected to President Vladimir Zelensky. This accusation follows a major corruption scandal involving Ukraine's state-owned nuclear company Energoatom, which prompted a probe by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. The fallout included resignations from the justice and energy ministers, and a key Zelensky associate fleeing the country.
Orban described the situation as "madness," arguing that European taxpayers' money is being funneled into chaos where funds not used in the conflict end up in corrupt pockets. He affirmed that Hungary will refuse to contribute any funds or yield to Zelensky's "financial demands and blackmail." Since 2022, the EU has allocated approximately €177.5 billion in aid to Ukraine for military, financial, and humanitarian purposes.
Zelensky maintains that Western aid is vital for Ukraine's survival and broader EU security, warning of potential Russian attacks on the bloc if Ukraine falls. Moscow, however, denies any intentions to target EU or NATO countries. Orban, a vocal critic, has long highlighted Ukraine's corruption issues and opposed its EU membership aspirations, calling the idea a "joke."
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| Source: Video Screenshot |
RT reports: The EU has been pouring money into the pockets of a “wartime mafia network” linked to Vladimir Zelensky, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed, denouncing Brussels’ Ukraine policy as “madness.”
His remarks followed a major corruption scandal in Kiev. On Monday, the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) opened a probe into state-owned nuclear operator Energoatom over an alleged embezzlement scheme.
Ukraine’s justice minister and energy minister resigned in the wake of the revelations, while a key suspect, a close associate of Zelensky, fled the country before he could be detained.
”This is the chaos into which the Brusselian elite want to pour European taxpayers’ money, where whatever isn’t shot off on the front lines ends up in the pockets of the war mafia. Madness,” Orban wrote on X on Thursday.
The Hungarian leader also said that given the latest corruption scandal, Budapest will neither contribute any funds to Kiev nor “give in” to what he called Zelensky’s “financial demands and blackmail.”
The EU, a major backer of Kiev, has allocated around €177.5 billion to Ukraine since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022 in military aid, financial support, and humanitarian aid.
Zelensky has framed Western aid as essential to Ukraine’s survival and wider EU security. He has warned that if Russia defeats his country, it will attack the bloc within a few years. Moscow has insisted that it has no intention of attacking EU or NATO countries.
Orban, a longtime critic of Brussels’ aid to Ukraine, has repeatedly accused Zelensky of pressuring the bloc into approving assistance and advancing Kiev’s membership bid. “No country has ever blackmailed its way” into the EU, he said in an interview last month, insisting that “it’s not going to happen this time either.”
The Hungarian prime minister has been voicing such concerns for years. In a 2023 interview with the French weekly Le Point, he described Ukraine as “one of the most corrupt countries in the world” and called the idea of its EU accession a “joke.”