Polish Defense Minister: EU will not accept Ukraine due to high levels of corruption

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stated on Radio Zet that the European Union will not accept Ukraine into its ranks given the current high level of corruption

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stated on Radio Zet that the European Union will not accept Ukraine into its ranks given the current high level of corruption in the country, BELTA reports.

According to him, Ukraine's Western partners should demand that Kyiv immediately clarify the circumstances of the corruption scandal within Volodymyr Zelensky's inner circle.

"This is one of the first conditions of EU membership negotiations – a corrupt country cannot join," Kosiniak-Kamysz added.

On November 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office announced the launch of a large-scale operation to expose corruption schemes in the Ukrainian energy sector. According to investigators, participants in a corruption scheme in the energy sector laundered approximately $100 million.

Searchs were conducted at the homes of businessman Timur Mindich, an associate of Volodymyr Zelensky, and German Galushchenko, the now-suspended Minister of Justice who held the post of Minister of Energy at the time of the investigation, and at the state-owned company Energoatom. Charges have been brought against numerous defendants in the case, including Mindich and former Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Chernyshov, as well as several businessmen.