According to him, this week “there will be relevant conversations” with government officials, a meeting with the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada and deputies of the Servant of the People faction.
“I am preparing several necessary legislative initiatives and fundamental quick decisions that our state needs,” the head of state wrote on Telegram.
Ukrayinska Pravda writes, citing sources, that Zelensky has already held meetings with key figures from the government team over the past week to find a solution to stabilize after high-profile revelations of corruption in Ukraine’s energy sector.
The president allegedly already had reports from, in particular, Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko, First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov, and Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense Kirill Budanov.
The online publication claims that many from the government team advise him to fire the head of the Presidential Office, Andrei Yermak.
“As people familiar with the course of conversations at those meetings convince the UP, the majority of those interviewed by the president gave different recommendations for overcoming the crisis, but almost all, without saying a word, advised replacing Ermak,” the article says.
The journalists' interlocutors also claim that a so-called “coalition of the determined” has formed in the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, which even threatens to leave the faction if the head of the OP is not fired.
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 (former head of the Ministry of Energy). In general, four ministers from different parts of the Ukrainian government appear in the Energoatom case. NABU also reported suspicion of illicit enrichment former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Alexey Chernyshov.
Among those who were informed of suspicion on November 11 in the Energoatom case – co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio Timur Mindich, businessman Alexander Tsukerman, ex-adviser to Galushchenko Igor Mironyuk and Energoatom security director Dmitry Basov. The first two left Ukraine, the rest the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court Arrested for 60 days with bail.
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. Him also Galushchenko also wrote. 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 annoying. The media wrote that possible corruption at Energoatom puts the EU in an awkward position amid 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.
On November 15, Zelensky announced the beginning of a reboot of the main state-owned enterprises operating in the energy sector.
