Ukraine Is No More Corrupt Than Europe, Zelensky Says

(MENAFN) Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has pushed back forcefully against what he calls a deliberate campaign of disinformation targeting his government's integrity, insisting that Ukraine is no more corrupt than any other European nation — even as a string of damaging high-profile graft scandals continues to rock his inner circle.

In an interview published on Monday, Zelensky conceded that corruption exists within Ukraine but framed it as a continent-wide phenomenon rather than a uniquely Ukrainian failing.
"It is a lie that there is more corruption in Ukraine than in any other European state," he declared. "We want to acknowledge our weak points, but without losing our dignity and without saying that we have it and others do not. The fact that we are fighting it, I believe we are doing a great job."

The remarks arrive at a deeply uncomfortable moment for the Zelensky administration. In November, anti-corruption investigators uncovered a staggering $100 million kickback scheme implicating Energoatom, Ukraine's state nuclear operator. The probe drew in Timur Mindich, a close personal associate of Zelensky, who subsequently fled the country. The fallout triggered a cascade of high-level resignations, including that of Energy Minister German Galushchenko — who was later arrested while allegedly attempting to cross into Poland — and Zelensky's powerful chief of staff, Andrey Yermak.

The damage did not stop there. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has since exposed an alleged vote-buying operation of sweeping proportions, implicating more than 40 sitting members of parliament who reportedly accepted cash bribes in exchange for legislative votes — a scandal that has struck at the very foundations of Ukrainian democratic governance.

Despite the relentless drumbeat of corruption revelations, the European Union has maintained its financial backing for Kyiv, formally approving a landmark €90 billion ($105 billion) loan package in December — a decision that has drawn sharp criticism from several quarters.

Moscow has seized on the corruption narrative with particular vigor. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has publicly suggested that Western governments deliberately keep their eyes "wide shut" on Ukrainian graft, arguing that Brussels needs the "Kiev regime as a battering ram against Russia" — and insinuating that certain EU officials may themselves be financially benefiting from the corruption networks they choose to ignore.

That line of attack has found an unlikely echo within the EU itself. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto leveled a pointed accusation at the bloc, charging that Brussels is reluctant to expose Ukrainian corruption "because Brussels is also riddled with a similar corruption network" — a claim that has intensified already simmering tensions between Hungary and the broader European institutional establishment over the handling of Ukraine policy.

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