BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Thursday said the European Union should stop sending money to the Ukrainian government after corruption reports.
“There’s a war mafia, a corrupt system working in Ukraine, and then the European Commission president … instead of stopping the payments and demanding for immediate financial clearance, she wants to send another 100 billion to Ukraine. That is insane,” he told reporters in Brussels before a meeting with his European Union counterparts.
Two Ukrainian ministers ensnared in a major corruption probe were fired on Wednesday by parliament, which has also called for more sweeping measures to restore faith in the country’s leadership.
The investigation into an alleged $100 million plot to control contracting at the state nuclear agency has stirred fresh anger at pervasive graft, including in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s inner circle.
Speaking in Brussels, Szijjarto added the outlook is not positive for Ukraine at the moment. “The time is not on the side of Ukraine. It is an illusion to say that the time is on the side of Ukraine,” he said.
He added that his country would support U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace initiatives.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout)
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