EU must stop funding 'corrupt Ukrainian war mafia' - Orban

RT
Thu, 20 Nov 2025 15:21 UTC

© Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

The EU must stop prolonging the Ukraine conflict by funding the "corrupt war mafia" in Kiev and instead focus its efforts on peace, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

The prime minister made the remarks on Tuesday amid a massive graft scandal that continues to rock Ukraine. Last week, the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced a probe into a "high-level criminal organization" allegedly led by Timur Mindich, a former business associate of Vladimir Zelensky. The criminal ring allegedly siphoned around $100 million in kickbacks from state-owned nuclear operator Energoatom.

Scraping together more money for Ukraine is aimed only at prolonging the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, Orban wrote on X.

"Let's choose common sense. Let's stop funding a war that cannot be won, alongside the corrupt Ukrainian war mafia, and focus our strength on establishing peace," the prime minister said.

Brussels is seeking to "scrape" together €135 billion ($156 billion) to prop up Kiev, but it doesn't have the money, Orban wrote. The bloc's leadership has three proposals on the table regarding how to get it, and all of them lead to the same "Brusselian dead end," he argued.

The first proposal involves member states chipping in "willingly and cheerfully, from their own budgets," and the second proposal is Brussels' favorite "magic trick" - joint borrowing, Orban said. "There's no money for the war today, so our grandchildren will pay the bill. Absurd."

The last option is seizing frozen Russian assets, which could be regarded as a "convenient solution," but involves unpredictable risks for the entire eurozone, he warned.

Russia has warned that it considers attempts to tamper with its frozen assets as "theft," threatening retaliation. A potential "sort-of-confiscation" is strongly opposed by Belgium, home to the Euroclear clearinghouse which holds the majority of the frozen assets. The country has argued that it would be exposed to immense legal and financial risks and has demanded that fellow EU members share them.

Comment: Who would be stuck with the bill? The grandchildren

On Wednesday, Orban wrote on X that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had "once again asked the member states for additional funds to finance Ukraine and the war."

The target sum, he argued, amounts to 65% of Hungary's annual economic output and nearly three-quarters of the EU's yearly budget. Such an "astronomical sum," he added, "simply does not exist today."

"The Brusselian 'magic trick' would once again be a joint European loan, a move that would ensure even our grandchildren would be burdened with repaying the costs of the Russian-Ukrainian war," Orban wrote, describing the idea as "categorically absurd."

Von der Leyen reportedly urged EU governments to reach a swift agreement to cover Ukraine's military and financial needs for the next two years, outlining funding options including bilateral contributions, joint EU borrowing, and a reparations loan based on Russia's immobilized assets.

Orban, in response, said Brussels' strategy was like trying to "help an alcoholic by sending them another crate of vodka." He noted that the proposal was even more "astonishing" at a "time when it has become clear that a war mafia is siphoning off European taxpayers' money."

While the bloc regularly issues general warnings about corruption in Ukraine, EU officials have often refrained from addressing scandals that could reflect poorly on Zelensky and his inner circle.

Orban said recently the EU had already "burnt" €185 billion since the conflict escalated in 2022. The war "kills the EU economically," he warned, adding that Brussels should instead pursue diplomacy with Moscow.