Volodymyr Zelenskyy removed Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk from the government due to their involvement in a $100 million kickbacks scandal in the energy sector. He also requested the imposition of personal sanctions against his former associate, Timur Mindich, who is believed to have organized the scheme and has reportedly already fled to Israel. A total of five people have been arrested in connection with the case, while another seven are believed to be linked.
During the 15-month investigation by the anti-corruption agency NABU into Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company, Energoatom, it was revealed that the company’s suppliers were forced to pay bribes of 10–15% in order to prevent payments or contracts from being blocked. The 1,000 hours of intercepted conversations also showed that defensive energy-infrastructure projects were deliberately delayed to secure more profitable kickbacks.
This is the biggest crisis faced by Zelenskyy’s government during the war, following public backlash over efforts to limit the powers of NABU in July.
Energy infrastructure has been hit nine times in the past two months by Russia, aiming to cause heating outages ahead of winter. The largest attack on energy infrastructure since the start of the war took place over the weekend (killing seven people) and has caused prolonged blackouts across the country.
It is the most significant political crisis for Zelenskyy’s government during the war, following the intense backlash over a bill aimed at curbing NABU’s powers in July, which was ultimately withdrawn.
Sources: Associated Press, Guardian [1], [2]
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