Two senior Ukrainian officials resigned Wednesday amid fallout from an alleged $100 million corruption scheme linked to state nuclear power company Energoatom.
Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said on X that Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk have submitted their resignations, and that the government has suspended a number of senior officials at Energoatom amid the corruption investigation.
Svyrydenko added that the cabinet has also submitted proposals to impose personal sanctions on Timur Mindich, a former business associate 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)
Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said they were leading a 15-month investigation codenamed “Midas” that uncovered a “massive corruption scheme to influence strategic state-owned companies.”
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It concerned a ‘high-level criminal [organization]who systematically “received illegal benefits from Energoatom’s contractors amounting to 10% to 15% of the contract value,” according to NABU.
“In particular, Energoatom’s contractors were forced to pay kickbacks to avoid having payments for their services/products blocked or losing their supplier status,” the agencies announced.
The office of NABU, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau, on October 1, 2019 in Kiev, Ukraine. (Sean Gallup/Getty)
The anti-corruption agencies stated that the alleged criminal organization ran a Kiev-based “laundry office” whose premises belonged to the family of former Ukrainian lawmaker and current Russian senator Andrii Derkach.
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According to NABU and SAPO, the office kept ‘black accounts’ and laundered around US$100 million through non-resident companies.
Five people were arrested and another seven were placed under suspicion, including a former adviser to the Energy Minister.
The scandal comes amid Russia’s escalating attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which have led to power outages across the country.
A salesperson waits for customers in a store during a partial power outage in Lviv on November 28, 2024, following Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP via Getty Images)
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“Internally, this scandal will be used to undermine unity and stability within the country. Externally, our enemies will use it as an argument to cut off aid to Ukraine,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker from Zelensky’s party, according to The Associated Press.
“It looks very bad in the eyes of our European and American partners,” Merezhko said. “While the Russians are destroying our power grid and people are enduring power outages, someone at the top was stealing money during the war.”
Zelenskyy said in a post on X that he supports the investigations conducted by Ukraine’s law enforcement and anti-corruption officials.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy takes part in a briefing at the President’s office after a staff meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, on November 7, 2025.
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“Right now it is extremely difficult for everyone in Ukraine – continuous power outages, Russian strikes and losses. It is absolutely unacceptable that in the middle of all this there are also some plans in the energy sector,” he wrote. “I will sign a decree to impose sanctions on two individuals involved in the NABU case regarding Energoatom. At this time, we all must protect Ukraine. Undermining the state means you will be held accountable. Breaking the law means you will be held accountable.”
