“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” At a difficult moment in the war, Zelenskiy is shaken by the biggest corruption scandal of the mandate. How did it get here?

Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies on Monday accused a number of people close to Ukraine's president of being involved in a criminal group that embezzled $100 million from Ukraine's energy sector. Zelenski is not directly involved, but he will suffer, one of the problems is that he brought people to power based on personal relationships, say analysts quoted by the Kyiv Independent.

Ukraine is currently rocked by the biggest corruption scandal of Volodymyr Zelensky's mandate, writes the press from Kiev. And at the center of it is a close collaborator of the president – ​​Timur Mindich, his former business partner, co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio.

It is not the best news for the Ukrainian president, who won the election also on the basis of an anti-corruption campaign, and for Ukraine in general, which is under pressure from Russia at several points on the front line.

Mindich, the National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU) announced, was the leader of a group that received bribes and illegal commissions from contractors of the state energy company in exchange for maintaining their status as suppliers and not blocking their products and services. According to the bureau, $100 million was laundered this way.

At first, Kyiv Independent writes, the president's office tried to downplay Mindich's role in the corruption case. But as more details emerged, Zelenskiy promised action. “Punishment is inevitable,” he said.

But Mindich managed to flee the country before he could be charged.

The scandal is the second blow to Zelenskiy's domestic position in recent months. It follows his administration's failed attempt in July to curtail the independence of the country's anti-corruption institutions — the same institutions that are now exposing alleged corruption by Zelenskiy's associates.

In an analysis of the new corruption scandal, the Ukrainian publication Kyiv Independent noted how many of the president's close associates, brought into the administration on the basis of personal relationships, were targeted by suspicion.

“Operation Midas” lasted 15 months

Ukraine's anti-corruption authorities — the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) — are the ones that busted the “criminal organization” made up of current and former energy officials, a prominent businessman, government ministers and a former deputy prime minister.

The investigation, which lasted 15 months and was dubbed “Operation Midas”, involved 1,000 hours of wiretapping and led to the seizure of bags of cash.

The agency said five of the seven alleged participants in the scheme had been detained.

The group is accused of manipulating contracts at Energoatom, Ukraine's state-owned nuclear power company, to obtain illegal kickbacks of 10-15% of the contract value.

According to NABU, the alleged ringleader of the alleged energy sector bribery plot is Mindich, co-owner of the president's Kvartal 95 film production company.

Since Zelenski was elected president in 2019, Mindich has developed financial interests in several industries.

Mindich is originally from the city of Dnipro and was the former business partner of Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who helped finance Zelenskiy's successful presidential election campaign.

Mindich introduced Zelenskiy to Kolomoiski, who is now in prison in Kyiv awaiting trial on embezzlement and fraud charges after being arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine in 2023.

According to NABU, Mindich was warned and fled to Israel before being charged in the energy case. The agency is now investigating who may have tipped him off.

Who are the suspected people?

Beyond Mindich, the most prominent figure involved is current Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who was suspended from office Wednesday morning. He was Minister of Energy until July, before Zelenski reshuffled the government, writes Politico.

Prosecutors said Galushchenko helped Mindich in his money laundering schemes and was influenced by the businessman. Although he was not indicted, the allegations led to his suspension.

Oleksiy Chernyshov, former deputy prime minister of Ukraine and close ally of Zelensky, was identified in NABU records under the code name “Che Guevara”. NABU charged him with illicit enrichment, alleging that he received approximately $1.2 million and nearly €100,000 through the money laundering network.

Chernisov, who has been under investigation in another corruption case since the summer, has largely stayed out of the public eye after being recalled from a business trip abroad earlier this year for questioning.

Another high-ranking official appointed was Ihor Mironiuk, a former adviser to Galushchenko and former deputy head of the State Property Fund.

Dmitro Basov, the former head of Energoatom's security department and identified as “Tenor” on the recordings, was also named.

The suspects maintained their innocence.

Another investigation in parallel

NABU and SAP currently have at least two major investigations underway, Politico writes.

The new one focuses on the state-owned nuclear power company, Energoatom.

But there is another ongoing investigation into alleged corruption related to overpriced military procurement contracts, and further NABU takedowns at the Ministry of Defense are expected in the coming days.

According to prosecutors, Rustem Umerov, former defense minister and current secretary of the Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, was pressured to agree to buy low-quality Chinese bulletproof vests at inflated prices in another case investigated by NABU.

The state did not pay for the vests after they performed poorly in military tests. Umerov has not been charged and has said he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Umerov admitted in a Facebook post that he met with the same Mindich to discuss the bulletproof vest contract, but it was terminated due to product non-performance, with no items ever delivered, and denied any pressure.

“Any attempt to link my activity at the Ministry of Defense with the 'influence' of certain people is groundless,” Umerov added.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely”

In an analysis of the new corruption scandal, the Ukrainian publication Kyiv Independent noted how many of the president's close associates were targeted by suspicion.

“The close circle is always a problem for almost all Ukrainian presidents,” political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told the Kyiv Independent.

With no experience in politics and a promise to bring “new faces” to a stale political environment, Zelenski formed his team in 2019. Without proper selection, friends and business partners became the core of his team.

Political analyst Oleh Saakian also suggested that the way the current government was formed led to the emergence of a problematic inner circle.

“Society voted for Zelenskiy as an idea, not for his team or an ideology,” he told the Kyiv Independent.

“We're in a situation where decision-making is concentrated in the office of the president,” Saakian said.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was only a matter of time before someone in the inner circle started getting rich or tried to play their own game,” he added.

Zelensky's promises

Zelenski's entire presidential campaign was based on promises to fight corruption. The problems of his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, helped him in the campaign.

Zelenski often cited the affairs of former Deputy Chairman of the National Security and Defense Council Oleh Hladkovskii (Svinarciuk), a key ally and business partner of Poroshenko, whose son was involved in a large-scale embezzlement scheme related to defense contracts months before the election.

“Modern politicians are bound by old grudges, nepotism and business projects and are incapable of changing Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said in 2019.

In the first two years of Zelenski's presidency, around 30 people related to either Zelenski's family or his former comedy group were appointed to high-ranking positions, according to investigative media outlet Bihus.Info.

When journalists asked Zelenski about his inner circle, Kyiv Independent writes, he often responded with irritation, defending even his most controversial associates, such as Oleh Tatarov, the deputy head of the President's Office, who was accused of taking bribes in the first days of Zelenski's term.

“If I lose my team, which is small – 5-6 managers – we will become weaker,” Zelenskiy said in 2023.

The problems of those close to the president

About 50 percent of Ukrainians thought Zelenskiy had fulfilled few or none of his presidential campaign promises, according to a 2024 survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

Of those who felt he had failed to deliver on his promises, 50% cited “dishonest and corrupt people on his team”, while 32% pointed to a lack of competent staff.

The list of people close to Zelenski against whom accusations and suspicions have been launched is not small.

Tatarov and another deputy head of President Zelensky's Office, Andrii Smirnov, were indicted. Smirnov was dismissed in 2024, while Tatarov retained his position.

Another deputy, Rostislav Šurma, is at the center of an anti-corruption investigation. His apartment in Munich was raided by law enforcement this summer. He has not yet been charged.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov, who is believed to be close to Zelenskiy, has been charged twice with illicit enrichment.

Officials who have faced backlash from public opinion have been sent abroad as ambassadors, a move often seen as a way to cover up large-scale scandals.

Former Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin, who resigned following a major corruption scandal, has been appointed Ukraine's ambassador to the Netherlands. His predecessor, Irina Venediktova, was appointed ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.