Ukraine Launches Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Audit of State Enterprises following Investigation into Major Nuclear Energy Producer’s Alleged Graft
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced on Thursday that Kyiv has initiated a comprehensive audit covering all state-owned enterprises, including the strategically sensitive energy sector.
In a post on the X platform, Svyrydenko stated, “The audit work has begun, with the supervisory committee instructed to review operations, particularly procurement processes.”
She emphasized that in the midst of Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure forcing Ukrainians to endure rotating power outages, “any corrupt practices are intolerable.”
Earlier that day, Ukrainian President Zelensky signed a decree imposing sanctions on businessmen Timur Mindich and Oleksandr Tsukerman.
Mindich and Tsukerman are accused of involvement in a major corruption case centered around the state-owned enterprise “Ukrainian National Nuclear Energy Generating Company” (Energoatom), responsible for operating four nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau stated that Energoatom’s contractors were coerced to pay kickbacks and bribes to members of this corrupt network in exchange for unimpeded supplier qualification and product services. Investigators estimated that the benefits channeled through this network amounted to approximately 100 million Ukrainian hryvnias (around 2.3 million USD).
The Bureau alleged that Mindich was the mastermind behind this corruption network, while Tsukerman was accused of overseeing the “backstage operations” to launder illegal gains. Mindich is a co-owner of the Ukrainian television entertainment production company “95 Kvartal” (Quarter 95), which is also the production company behind the popular TV show “Servant of the People,” in which Zelensky starred before entering politics.
Furthermore, the Anti-Corruption Bureau released audio evidence of bribery and kickback arrangements involving Energoatom, in which the individuals used encrypted language for coded conversations.
According to a statement from Zelensky’s office, on the eve of the accusations being made public, Mindich and Tsukerman (confirmed as Israeli citizens) had already fled Ukraine.
This scandal implicates several high-ranking officials in the Zelensky government, including former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Tchernykhov, Energy Minister Svitlana Grynychuk, Herman Halushchenko who served as Energy Minister from April 2021 to July 2025 before becoming Minister of Justice, and former Defense Minister and current Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov.
On November 12, Halushchenko and Grynychuk both submitted their resignations. The day before, Zelensky demanded their resignations, condemning the corrupt practices in the energy sector during wartime as “absolutely abnormal.”
Amid continued Russian bombings of Ukrainian energy facilities, millions of people are facing rotating blackouts and heating shortages during the winter, sparking intense public outrage over this corruption case.
On November 7, Energy Minister Grynychuk announced emergency power outages in “various regions of Ukraine” and stated that the outages would be lifted once the “power system’s condition stabilizes.”
The Ukrainian energy network operator, “Central Energy Company,” reported that its thermal power plants sustained the most severe damage since the outbreak of the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war in 2022.
“All our efforts to repair around the clock have been in vain! The enemy’s attacks are becoming more brutal and ruthless with each assault,” the company posted on Facebook, revealing that following drone and missile attacks from Russia, the country’s electricity output plummeted to zero on November 8.