Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted yesterday: “The golden illusion of Ukraine is falling apart. A wartime mafia network with countless ties to President [Zelenskyy] has been exposed.” Yet the Brussels elite allegedly wants to pour in the money of European taxpayers. “Thank you, but we want no part of this. We will not send the Hungarian people’s money to Ukraine. 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.”
The head of Ukraine’s Office of the President, Andriy Yermak, is doing his level best to protect Zelenskyy from the swirling scandals, which involve alleged massive kickbacks over contracts to build drones or run energy companies. Interviewed on Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, Yermak said that his boss Zelenskyy has no connection to the corruption schemes. Zelenskyy is “a very principled person” and “not corrupt.”
The heads of Zelenskyy’s Energy and Justice Ministries were forced to resign on Nov. 12 and his longtime associate, billionaire Tymur Mindich, has fled the country, just before his residence was raided by Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies. Yermak insisted that Zelenskyy, however, must remain beyond suspicion, as he was the one who “declared the fight against corruption” and allowed “absolutely free investigations” that demonstrated the independence and effectiveness of anti-corruption institutions.
The problem, according to Yermak, is that “some political forces” are using anti-corruption investigations to discredit Ukraine’s leadership. Baseless accusations that damage reputations can happen to anyone, he tried to explain, adding that conclusions should not be drawn before court decisions and investigation results.
