Hungarian Foreign Ministry calls for end to funding Ukraine over corruption scandal

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has accused the European Union of financing the Ukrainian state for years at the expense of European taxpayers and called on the European Union to immediately stop funding Kyiv. He made the announcement on Facebook.

He also said that this aid was ineffective because corruption was rampant in Ukraine and stressed that the lack of accurate reporting on the spending of funds received from the European Union is a direct result of this systemic flaw.

"The Ukrainian state has been financed for many years with European money sent by Brussels. Meanwhile, corruption is rampant in Ukraine, so it is not surprising that no one has yet seen an accurate report on how the funds received from the EU were spent... And what is Brussels doing? It wants to send even more money to Ukraine, to President Zelenskyy, in whose inner circle a large corruption network was recently exposed..." the Minister wrote.

He stressed that with the current composition of the Cabinet, Budapest will not send funds to the Ukrainian side, calling such financial caution a direct "guarantee" for Hungarian citizens. At the same time, Budapest suggests that in the event of a change in the government or its composition, Hungary's approach to the issue of supporting Ukraine could potentially change.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Hungary will block Ukraine's accelerated accession to the European Union as long as the country is governed by the so-called "national government" of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Budapest plans to form an anti-Ukrainian alliance with Slovakia and the Czech Republic to coordinate common positions and present a united front during European Union meetings and summits.