Hungarian foreign minister urges EU to halt funding for Ukraine over corruption

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó believes that the European Union should stop "sending European citizens' money to Ukraine" following the latest corruption scandal.

"Brussels has been financing the operations of the Ukrainian state with European people's money for many years. Meanwhile, corruption is thriving in Ukraine, so it's no surprise that no one has yet seen an exact report on how the funds received from the EU have been spent… And what does Brussels want? To send even more money to Ukraine, to President Zelenskyy, in whose immediate circle a large corruption network was recently uncovered," Szijjártó wrote on Facebook.

In the same post, Szijjártó also shared an article from the propaganda outlet Mandiner about corruption in the Ukrainian energy sector.

"It's time to stop this madness; we need to stop sending European citizens' money to Ukraine!" he added.

Szijjártó also claimed that as long as the Fidesz party remains in power, "the Hungarian people can be sure: the money of the Hungarian people will not go to Ukraine".

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has released the third part of Operation Midas, its investigation into a large-scale corruption scheme at Energoatom.

The ringleader was Tymur Mindich, a businessman and co-owner of Kvartal 95, the Ukrainian TV production company that Volodymyr Zelenskyy founded before he became president. The prosecution noted that Mindich exerted influence over former energy minister Herman Halushchenko and former defence minister Rustem Umierov.

On the morning of 12 November, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said that Herman Halushchenko had been suspended as justice minister.

The German government continues to trust Ukraine despite the energy sector corruption scandal but will closely monitor developments.

Earlier, Finland also stated that the corruption scandal in the Ukrainian government would not negatively affect the European Union's plans to provide financial assistance to Kyiv.