The media drew parallels that at first Zelensky was perceived as a hero president, and now as “a bad administrator, incapable of governing a country” that is at war with the aggressor country of the Russian Federation.
Corriere della Sera quotes political scientist Taras Semenyuk, who noted that Zelensky “did not have the strength to get rid of” people such as co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio Timur Mindich, who are “now dragging down” the president himself.
Semenyuk also claims that the British government is working to quickly replace Zelensky with former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and now ambassador to London Valery Zaluzhny, who is popular despite his removal from a military post in February 2024.
According to the Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Gritsak, with whom the Italian media spoke, there are three candidates of “national scale” who could replace Zelensky – Zaluzhny, the head of military intelligence of Ukraine Kirill Budanov and the commander of the Third Army Corps Andrey Biletsky.
As Corriere della Sera pointed out, the corruption scandal also provoked a moral crisis among the military, and now “the survival of Ukraine is under great threat.” At the same time, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claims that regardless of the presence or absence of Zelensky, the front remains strong – if Pokrovsk falls, the war will continue for Konstantinovka, and then for Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
At the same time, Gritsak urged to be wary of Russian propaganda. She will take advantage of the scandal to spread the old defeatist slogan that resistance to the illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin is supposedly “made by the rich at the expense of the poor,” the historian emphasized.
Context
On November 10, NABU reported about Operation Midas to expose a “high-level criminal organization” that was engaged in extortion at Energoatom. According to the investigation, the state-owned company's contractors were offered to pay a kickback of 10% to 15% for goods and services, threatening to block payments from the budget or break off cooperation.
Investigative actions were also carried out against the current Minister of Justice. German Galushchenko (ex-head of the Ministry of Energy), whom NABU wiretaps called Professor and Sigismund. In general, four ministers from different parts of the Ukrainian government are involved in the Energoatom case, the head of the NABU detective department, Alexander Abakumov, told Ukrainskaya Pravda. In particular, NABU reported suspicion of illicit enrichment former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Alexey Chernyshev.
People's Deputy from “Voice” Yaroslav Zheleznyak accused the head of the Ministry of Energy Svetlana Grinchuk of involvement in this story. She replied that she “didn’t understand the claims.” However, after Zelensky’s video message on November 12, in which he said that, in his opinion, Galushchenko and Grinchuk “cannot remain in their positions,” the energy minister wrote a letter of resignation. It was also written by Galushchenko. It is planned that the Rada will consider them on November 18.
The head of European diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, called the corruption scandal in the Ukrainian Energoatom extremely unfortunate.
The media wrote that there was probable corruption at Energoatom puts the EU in an awkward position against the background of the process of Ukraine's accession to the European Union. European allies are demanding an explanation from Ukraine over an energy corruption scandal, Politico reported on November 14.
