(MENAFN) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has sharply criticized the European Union’s support for Ukraine, claiming that Western funds are being funneled into a “wartime mafia network” tied to President Vladimir Zelensky and calling Brussels’ approach “madness.”

Orban’s comments came after a major corruption scandal in Kiev. The Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) recently launched an investigation into state-owned nuclear operator Energoatom over alleged embezzlement. In response, Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers resigned, while a key suspect—reportedly a close associate of Zelensky—fled the country before authorities could detain him.

”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. He also stated that, in light of the scandal, Hungary will neither contribute funds to Kiev nor “give in” to what he described as Zelensky’s “financial demands and blackmail.”

Since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, the EU has provided roughly €177.5 billion in military, financial, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Zelensky has repeatedly framed this aid as crucial for both Ukraine’s survival and the security of the wider EU, warning that a Russian victory could eventually threaten the bloc. Moscow, however, has denied any plans to attack EU or NATO members.

Orban, a long-standing critic of Brussels’ Ukraine policy, has accused Zelensky of pressuring the EU into approving aid and advancing Ukraine’s membership ambitions. “No country has ever blackmailed its way” into the EU, he said in a recent interview, adding, “it’s not going to happen this time either.”

MENAFN15112025000045017281ID1110348887