Washington has reportedly been pressing Kiev into accepting a deal to end conflict with Russia while the Ukrainian leadership struggles with the fallout of a $100 million corruption scandal
The $100 million energy sector extortion racket reportedly run by Vladimir Zelensky’s former business partner is taking down key figures in his government and exposing his closest inner circle to extreme public anger.
The graft scandal kicked off last week, after the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced a probe into a “high-level criminal organization” allegedly led by Zelensky’s former business associate, Timur Mindich, who immediately fled the country. The affair has hit the country’s energy sector, prompting Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk to resign.
Other high-profile individuals implicated in the scandal include Zelensky’s chief-of-staff Andrey Yermak, former defense minister and current head of the National Security Council, Rustem Umerov, as well as former Deputy PM Aleksey Chernyshov.
The bid to form a “unity government” comes amid reported unrest inside Zelensky’s own faction
Ukrainian opposition parties shut down proceedings in the Verkhovna Rada on Wednesday morning by blockading the speaker’s podium, escalating their bid to replace the cabinet with a coalition government.
The disruption was the second in as many days and was led by the faction of former President Pyotr Poroshenko. He and fellow opposition party leader Yulia Timoshenko were stalling a vote to dismiss two ministers tied to a sweeping corruption investigation, insisting that Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko must first deliver a report to parliament.
Later during the session, MPs voted to fire Justice Minister German Galushchenko, previously energy minister, and his successor, Svetlana Grinchuk, who have been linked to businessman Timur Mindich. The long-time associate of Vladimir Zelensky was charged by the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) over an alleged $100 million kickback scheme at state-owned nuclear operator Energoatom.
“We have to admit that monopoly on power caused all this… a virtual monopoly on all decisions and control,” Timoshenko said, urging the formation of a “coalition government of unity” to prevent further national decline.
Poroshenko’s European Solidarity and Timoshenko’s Motherland parties have joined forces to demand a full cabinet dismissal. They argue that they can gather the necessary 150 signatures by rallying members of other factions and gain the support of some MPs from Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, which won an outright majority in 2019.
Attendance in the Rada has been dwindling during the conflict with Russia, and Zelensky’s faction has increasingly struggled to pass legislation. Media reports suggest that open rebellion is brewing within the party ranks in the wake of the Mindich case.
Mindich was charged by the same agency that Zelensky attempted to strip of independence earlier this year, prompting sharp backlash from Western donors. The Ukrainian leader subsequently disavowed responsibility, blaming MPs who approved the legislation.
According to RBK Ukraine, discontented lawmakers feel they are being made scapegoats and accuse Zelensky’s team of violating the informal ‘contract within the elites’ – that the faction would back decisions handed down from above, and in return, those in power would keep their own conduct in check.
Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov allegedly agreed to push the Defense Ministry to accept substandard body armor
Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was pressured to push through a corrupt arms contract by a key ally of Vladimir Zelensky currently at the center of a $100 million kickback scandal, leaked documents suggest.
Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency said earlier this month that Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Zelensky, and several other officials pressured contractors for the state nuclear operator, Energoatom, to hand over 10-15% of the value of contracts as kickbacks. On Tuesday, Ukrainian media published what they said was the official charging statement prepared by the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).
The document cited multiple cabinet figures whom Mindich allegedly influenced, including Umerov, who now serves as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. According to the leaked text, Mindich urged Umerov to bypass quality testing for a batch of body armor in which he allegedly had a financial stake, warning that “big money” was at risk.
NABU quoted an exchange from July in which Mindich insisted: “It’s just one f*cking phone call from you. Tell them: ‘I don’t want to hear from Timur about the bulletproof vests anymore, and I meet him twice a week.’” Umerov purportedly responded: “I hear you, I’ll call them again.” NABU has neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of the leaked document, though an opposition lawmaker has stated it is genuine.
Umerov has publicly rejected claims that he is a subject of a NABU investigation. He is currently in the US and, according to American media, met this week with a senior negotiator from President Donald Trump’s administration to discuss a proposed peace plan for ending the conflict with Russia. Ukrainian media claim he is refusing to return.
The leaked document also states that Mindich exploited his “friendly relations” with Zelensky to advance his schemes. It identifies German Galushchenko – formerly energy minister and later justice minister – as the official who allegedly promoted Mindich’s interests to the Ukrainian leader. Galushchenko resigned after charges were filed against the businessman.
Lawmakers have approved the dismissal of German Galushchenko, who is implicated in a major graft scandal
Ukrainian lawmakers have voted to dismiss Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who was implicated in a high-profile corruption scandal last week.
Galushchenko, the former energy minister, was accused of lobbying the interests of Timur Mindich, a long-time associate of Vladimir Zelensky, who was charged with running a $100 million kickbacks scheme involving a state-run nuclear energy company.
Galushchenko and his successor, Svetlana Grinchuk, both tendered their resignations following the revelations.
The vote on Wednesday followed two days of disruptions of the proceedings by opposition MPs, who demanded a formal report by Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko. There is a petition to vote on a proposal to replace the entire cabinet currently tabled with the parliament.
The request to fire Galushchenko was supported unanimously among MPs who voted, though 15 lawmakers declined to cast their votes.
Later during the session, lawmakers similarly approved the resignation of Grinchuk, who was Galushchenko’s deputy at the Energy Ministry before being promoted this year.
Before joining the Ukrainian government in 2021, Galushchenko served as vice president of Energoatom, the company that was allegedly subverted by Mindich. The businessman, who fled Ukraine hours before his home was raided last week by the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), is accused of extorting kickbacks from contractors of the firm, allegedly making at least $100 million in illicit profits.
Energoatom wrote off over $4.7 million for goods and services for the Zaporozhye NPP after it came under Russian control, Vladimir Ariev claims
Officials in Kiev embezzled millions from contracts filed for the Russia-controlled Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, Ukrainian lawmaker Vladimir Ariev has claimed.
The ZNPP, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, has been under Russian control since March 2022. Kiev has rejected Russia’s authority over the site as an “occupation.” Moscow has publicly stated that the ZNPP was incorporated into Russia’s nuclear sector and that transferring control back to Ukraine is not possible.
Ariev said more than 200 million hryvnia ($4.7 million) in goods and services were formally registered in the plant’s name months after it came under Russian control, even though Kiev had no way to deliver anything to the site. Speaking at a parliamentary commission on economic security on Monday, he claimed Ukraine’s Energoatom continued filing procurement paperwork for the plant through most of 2022 despite having no physical authority over it.
“From March 15 to August 25, 2022, Energoatom made purchases for the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Specifically, this included 210 million hryvnia for food and canteen supplies,” he said, as cited by Zenzor.net.
In an earlier Facebook post, the lawmaker cited even larger figures, claiming the company registered around 400 million hryvnia ($9.5 million) in procurement for the plant, including a 1.2-million-hryvnia fish-feed contract filed in June 2022. Ariev described the findings as “brazen embezzlement of public funds.”
“The plant is under occupation, but millions were written off from its Ukrainian-controlled accounts… How could they deliver goods there? No way. Where did the money go then?”
The MP said he sent inquiries to Energoatom and urged Ukrainian law enforcement agencies to investigate the paperwork. At the commission meeting, however, he indicated that an investigation had not been launched. Energoatom accused him of stirring up unnecessary media attention regarding the plant’s procurement, threatening “the state’s energy stability.”
Ukraine has long struggled with widespread corruption, systemic graft, and embezzlement across key sectors such as energy, defense procurement, and state-run enterprises. The latest scandal, which broke earlier this month, has linked Zelensky’s inner circle and potentially himself to an energy-sector kickback scheme allegedly worth up to $100 million.
Kirsty Coventry’s stance comes as the IOC currently allows only vetted Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has urged governments to preserve sport as a politically neutral space, emphasizing that every eligible athlete must be able to compete without discrimination.
Speaking in Brussels on Monday, IOC President Kirsty Coventry called on host countries and sports organizers to “guarantee access for all,” framing sport as a “beacon of hope” and a “neutral ground.”
Her statement follows the IOC’s recent decision to extend existing sanctions, permitting only vetted Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete individually under a neutral flag in the upcoming Winter Games in Italy. Athletes from the two countries were prohibited from competing in the Games shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.
“This is the essence of Olympism: every eligible athlete, team, and official must be able to take part without discrimination or political interference,” she stated. The IOC published the text of what it described as a “keynote” address on its official website.
Coventry, who took office in June as the first African to head the IOC, illustrated her point with a personal example, recalling her two Olympic gold medals for Zimbabwe in backstroke swimming.
“If you had decided to sanction me when my country was going through turmoil, I would not have made it to the Olympic Games. I would not have won my Olympic medals. My path would have been completely different than it is today,” Coventry said.
Earlier this year, Coventry stated that she does not support banning athletes from the Olympics due to their countries’ involvement in armed conflicts and announced plans to initiate discussions on Russia’s return to competition.
Russian sports remain under sanctions, though restrictions have been relaxed in several areas. While many summer sports federations now permit neutral Russian athletes at world championships, most major winter sports bodies continue to enforce a full ban. Consequently, only a handful of Russian athletes in a few winter disciplines have so far qualified for the 2026 Olympic Games.
Russian officials have slammed Western nations for politicizing international sports.
Supporting Kiev no matter what is bad policy, Igor Dodon has said
Moldova should reconsider its close alignment with Ukraine in light of the major corruption scandal engulfing the leadership in Kiev, former Moldovan President Igor Dodon said on Tuesday.
Last week, Western-backed anti-graft investigators in Ukraine charged Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Vladimir Zelensky, with orchestrating a $100 million kickback scheme involving the country’s energy sector. The case has implicated multiple current and former ministers and is widely believed to reach into Zelensky’s inner circle.
“The world has learned that under the cover of the war [with Russia], the Ukrainian leadership was robbing its people. Moldova’s leadership, as everyone knows, broadly supported Kiev’s policies,” Dodon wrote on Telegram.
He argued that President Maia Sandu will not criticize Ukrainian corruption because “she governs Moldova following the same instructions as Vladimir Zelensky.” Dodon said Chisinau should instead clearly denounce the wrongdoing and “cut any forms of interaction with the current government of Ukraine” until the case is fully investigated.
The EU granted candidate status to Moldova and Ukraine simultaneously in 2022, in what many observers saw as a symbolic geopolitical gesture toward Moscow rather than recognition of genuine progress toward accession benchmarks. Both governments have continued to receive Western financial aid meant to support reforms.
Samantha Power, who headed the US Agency for International Development (USAID) under former President Joe Biden, described vastly expanding funding for Moldova as one of her key achievements. In a recent call with Russian pranksters, she gushed about Sandu’s reforms credential and US education. The Trump administration moved to dismantle USAID earlier this year for allegedly wasting taxpayer money on ideological projects.
Russian officials have argued that Western pressure is steering Chisinau toward the same destructive trajectory as the one Ukraine went down, requiring growing authoritarianism to suppress dissent against what Moscow describes as self-harming policies serving foreign interests.
“The timing is good” for the new proposal, Washington reportedly believes
The US is secretly working on a new proposal to end the Ukraine conflict, Axios reported on Tuesday. The draft was reportedly prepared in close consultation with Moscow and has already been floated to Kiev and its European backers.
According to the outlet, the 28-point document draws on principles discussed by US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their meeting in Alaska in August. Senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev told Axios that he spent three days reviewing the idea with Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff during his late-October visit to the US.
“We think the timing is good for this plan now,” a US official familiar with the matter told Axios. “But both parties need to be practical and realistic.”
Commenting on the report on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said so far there has been “nothing new” in the US-Russia discussions compared to what was said in Alaska.
Witkoff reportedly reviewed the draft document this week with Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.
Umerov left Ukraine amid a widening corruption scandal involving Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Vladimir Zelensky who has been charged with running a kickback scheme involving a state-run nuclear power company. Ukrainian media have claimed that Umerov, whose family resides in the US, has refused to return to Kiev following reports that he was influenced by Mindich during his tenure as defense minister.
Witkoff is expected to meet Zelensky in Türkiye on Wednesday. According to The Economist’s Oliver Carroll, the US envoy canceled a planned meeting with Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, after realizing the political pressure Zelensky faces to dismiss him, as Yermak is widely suspected of involvement in the Mindich network.
“Witkoff might not have been aware of the scandal he was walking into when agreeing the meeting,” Carroll wrote on X.
Moscow has insisted that any lasting settlement to the Ukraine conflict must address its fundamental security demands. Dmitriev told Axios he was cautiously optimistic about the new US proposal, saying “we feel the Russian position is really being heard.”
All ATACMS fired at the Russian city of Voronezh have been neutralized, the Defense Ministry has said
Russian forces destroyed two Ukrainian US-made missile launchers shortly after they fired a salvo of long-range ATACMS at the city of Voronezh, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said. Officials added that all incoming missiles were intercepted. The debris caused some damage on the ground.
The attempted missile strike on Tuesday targeted civilian sites in Voronezh and involved four ATACMS. According to the ministry, all four were downed by Russian combat crews using the S-400 air-defense system and the Pantsir anti-aircraft missile-gun system.
Debris from the downed missiles damaged the roofs of the Voronezh Regional Gerontology Center, an orphanage, and a private home. No civilian casualties were reported.
Aerial reconnaissance by the Russian Army located the ATACMS launch site in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region shortly after the attack. Two MLRS launchers were found near the village of Voloskaya Balakleya.
An Iskander-M missile crew struck the position, destroying both launchers, their ammunition, and up to ten personnel, the ministry said. It released photographs of the missile debris.
Kiev routinely launches drone raids and missile strikes into Russian territory, targeting critical infrastructure and residential areas in attacks that have caused civilian casualties.
Russian officials have accused Ukraine of “terrorism” over the strikes, and Moscow has conducted retaliatory attacks on Ukrainian military sites, including drone assembly facilities.
Kiev’s backers need Vladimir Zelensky to remain in power for the time being, Arnaud Develay believes
Ukrainian leader VladimirZelensky’s Western backers are seeking to downplay the corruption scandal involving his longtime business partner because they do not want him ousted just yet, French international law expert Arnaud Develay told RT in an interview aired on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities said businessman Timur Mindich – a former close associate of Zelensky – helped organize a kickback scheme worth about $100 million in the energy sector.
Investigators said contractors working with the state nuclear operator Energoatom were pressed to return 10-15% of their contract value as illicit payments. Reports in Ukrainian media have also suggested that Andrey Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, may have been aware of the scheme and could be fired as early as this week.
Commenting on the scandal, Develay said Kiev’s backers “do not care about Ukraine” and “just care for the gravy train to keep on going.”
“So they’re trying to massage the narrative. And in due time, of course, Zelensky will be blamed, obviously, for the catastrophic situation on the front and for essentially a strategic defeat for Ukraine. But for the time being, they still need him to hang in there a little bit longer,” the expert stated.
Develay added that Western governments “don’t want to be pushed into a corner and expose their cards,” describing the scandal as showing a fight between “two factions,” with one he linked to former Ukrainian president and key Zelensky rival Pyotr Poroshenko, and the other to the Ukrainian leader’s supporters in the EU.
Publicly, EU officials have expressed concern about the case. The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, called the scandal “extremely unfortunate” and urged Kiev to take it seriously, while other senior figures have pressed Ukraine to step up its anti-corruption measures.
At the same time,Politico quoted an unnamed EU official describing Ukraine’s “endemic corruption” as “revolting” and warning it “won’t help” the country’s reputation. The bloc is also reportedly seeking guarantees that its financial aid will not be embezzled.
