Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán escalated his long-running confrontation with Kyiv on Nov. 13, accusing Ukraine of being run by a “wartime mafia network” and claiming that corruption “with countless ties to President Zelensky” has been exposed.
In a statement on X, Orbán said Ukraine’s “golden illusion is falling apart” and argued that Hungary would not finance what he called “madness.”
“Anyhow, after all this, we certainly won’t give in to the Ukrainian president’s financial demands and blackmail. It’s high time Brussels finally understood where their money is really going,” he said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry responded within hours, dismissing Orbán’s comments and highlighting the Hungarian leader’s own record. MFA spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhy wrote on X:
“Lectures about corruption from a politician embroiled in corruption scandals who has made his country the poorest in the EU? No, thanks.”
Tykhy accompanied the post with a photoshopped image of Orbán wearing a suit patterned like a zebra – a pointed reference to a recent investigative report in Hungary revealing that the prime minister’s private estate includes an exotic mini-zoo featuring zebras and other animals.
At the end of September, protesters staged a demonstration at the gates of the complex, holding placards with anti-government slogans and balloons in the shape of a zebra.
Ukraine’s corruption scandal
Orbán’s comments followed a corruption scandal in Ukraine. Earlier this week, NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine) and SAPO (Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office) said top company officials demanded illicit commissions of 10-15% from contractors.
The corruption allegations center on contracts linked to Energoatom, which provides most of Ukraine’s electricity.
According to investigators, an organized criminal group laundered the funds through an office in central Kyiv linked to the family of former lawmaker and suspected traitor Andriy Derkach. Among those named in the case was then-Energy Minister and later Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko.
Despite personal ties to some of the accused, Zelensky expressed strong support for NABU’s investigation, saying that “the inevitability of punishment” is essential.
As the scandal deepens, Ukraine’s already fragile power grid faces fresh attacks. Russia has escalated nightly drone and missile barrages targeting critical infrastructure in what officials describe as a campaign to plunge cities into darkness and cold ahead of winter.
At the end of September, protesters staged a demonstration at the gates of the complex, holding placards with anti-government slogans and balloons in the shape of a zebra.