Two Ukrainian ministers resign amid $100 million corruption probe
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Two top Ukrainian officials tendered their resignations Wednesday amid fallout from an alleged $100 million corruption scheme linked to state nuclear energy company Energoatom.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X that Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk had submitted their resignations and that the government suspended several senior officials at Energoatom amid the corruption investigation.
Svyrydenko added that the cabinet also submitted proposals to apply personal sanctions against Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and businessman Alexander Tsukerman.
Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk submitted their resignations on November 12, 2025. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images; Andrii Nesterenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Independent anti-corruption agencies of Ukraine, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said they were leading a 15-month investigation titled “Midas” that revealed a “large-scale corruption scheme aimed at influencing strategic state-owned enterprises.”
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It was a “high-level criminal organization” which systematically received “illicit advantages from Energoatom subcontractors amounting to 10 to 15% of the contract value,” NABU said.
“In particular, Energoatom subcontractors were forced to pay bribes to avoid having payments for their services/products blocked or losing their supplier status,” the agencies said.
The offices of NABU, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, on October 1, 2019, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Sean Gallup/Getty)
Anti-corruption agencies said the alleged criminal organization ran a kyiv-based “laundry”, whose premises were owned by the family of former Ukrainian lawmaker and current Russian senator Andrii Derkach.
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The office maintained “black accounting” records and laundered approximately $100 million through non-resident companies, according to NABU and SAPO.
Five people were arrested and seven others were suspected, including a former adviser to the Minister of Energy.
The scandal comes amid Russia’s growing attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which have led to power outages across the country.
A seller waits for customers at a store during a partial outage in Lviv on November 28, 2024, following Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP via Getty Images)
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“Internally, this scandal will be used to undermine the unity and stability of the country. Externally, our enemies will use it as an argument to end aid to Ukraine,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, an MP from Zelensky’s party, according to the Associated Press.
“This looks really bad in the eyes of our European and American partners,” Merezhko said. “While the Russians are destroying our power grid and people have to endure power outages, someone at the top was stealing money during the war.”
Zelenskyy said in a post on X that he supports investigations by Ukrainian law enforcement and anti-corruption officials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a briefing at the Office of the President following a staff meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, November 7, 2025.
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“Right now it is extremely difficult for everyone in Ukraine – power outages, Russian strikes and losses. It is absolutely unacceptable that in the midst of all this there are also projects in the energy sector,” he wrote. “I will sign a decree to impose sanctions on two individuals involved in the NABU Energoatom affair. Right now, we all need to protect Ukraine. Harming the state means you will be held accountable. Breaking the law means you will be held accountable.”
