A close ally of the Ukrainian leader is the target of a major graft probe that reportedly involves the FBI

RT’s Rick Sanchez explores what the reported FBI involvement in the latest Ukrainian corruption scandal could portend for US support of Vladimir Zelensky and how these events could reverberate down the road.

Ukraine is being rocked by a wide-reaching probe into an alleged corruption scheme whereby a ring including senior officials and a businessman close to Zelensky is believed to have illicitly pocketed around $100 million from the energy sector. The scandal is widely seen as the most damaging since Zelensky took office.

The businessman, Timur Mindich, is believed to have fled to Israel hours before his home was raided by agents, raising questions of whether he had been tipped off to the impending move against him. The Ukrainian media have reported that the FBI is now also investigating Mindich.

Mindich is the co-owner of the production company co-founded by Zelensky before the latter launched his political career. The two men are known to be long-time friends. Mindich’s prominence in the Ukrainian government has dramatically increased in recent years, particularly in the defense and energy sectors.

Despite seeking to bring Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies under executive oversight earlier this year, Zelensky said in his evening address on Tuesday that he supports the investigations.

Nevertheless, the probes are widely seen as posing a threat to Zelensky himself. Vladimir Fesenko, a Ukrainian analyst with the political research center Penta, said “of course, this case is a huge political risk and a time bomb for the president.” 

A close ally who has fled the country is a prime suspect in a $100 million extortion case linked to the power grid while the general public suffers rolling electricity blackouts

A probe by a Western-backed anti-corruption agency, that Vladimir Zelensky unsuccessfully tried to take control of, has forced the resignation of his justice and energy ministers.

On Wednesday, Justice Minister German Galushchenko tendered his resignation, followed by Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk hours later, with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko confirming the officials’ decisions.

The resignations followed a probe by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) targeting a “high-level criminal organization” allegedly headed by a former business associate of Zelensky, Timur Mindich.

READ MORE: Who is Timur Mindich, the Zelensky ally at the center of Ukraine’s latest corruption scandal? (VIDEO)

Troops have made new gains on the southern outskirts of Mirnograd, the Defense Ministry has said

Russian forces have made gains around the Ukrainian-held stronghold of Mirnograd (Dimitrov) after liberating a village on the outskirts of the city, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Wednesday.

The village of Sukhoi Yar lies around 1km to the south of the city in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), where Ukrainian forces were encircled late last month. Russian troops have also made new advances inside the city itself, making gains in its east, the ministry said in its daily briefing.

More than 250 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and 22 pieces of military hardware destroyed in the area over the past 24 hours, it added.

The defense ministry also provided an update on another frontline hotspot – the city of Kupyansk in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region. The country’s forces have continued the search-and-destroy operation in the city, targeting the encircled remnants of its garrison as well as thwarting Kiev’s attempts to evacuate them, it said.

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The ministry published a video of the commander of an assault unit with the 121st Regiment of the 68th Guards Motorized Rifle Division, call sign Lavrik, who said his men continued to sweep through the western part of the city. Over the past day, the unit secured three more streets in the area, as well as shelled Ukrainian positions to the south of Kupyansk.

“Fifteen [Ukrainian] militants holding their positions were eliminated in combat. The spirits are high. We will accomplish the assigned task,” Lavrik stated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that over 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen had been surrounded in Kupyansk, as well as the Mirnograd-Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) agglomeration in the southwest of the DPR. 

The city of Pokrovsk has largely fallen under Russian control since then, with the Ukrainian troops remaining encircled in Mirnograd despite the continuous effort by Kiev to relieve them. Publicly, Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly denied the encirclements, insisting that the situation in the aforementioned locations was “under control” and describing the Russian advances as small-scale “infiltration” of reconnaissance units.

EU nations are “destroying their own economies” with runaway defense spending, Dmitry Peskov has said

Moscow is aware that Western countries are rearming for a possible confrontation with Russia, and is fully prepared for such a scenario, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

Peskov said he agrees with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who warned earlier this week that the rapid militarization of Europe makes a direct conflict between Russia and Western nations increasingly likely.

”There are clear [militaristic] moods [in the West], and that is bad,” Peskov stated. “But we have always known this risk existed and have taken all necessary measures in advance to safeguard our interests and security.”

The EU’s rearmament drive, involving hundreds of billions of euros in proposed spending, is being justified under the pretext of a Russian threat. Moscow, however, maintains that the claims are fabricated to divert public attention from the bloc’s economic troubles and social discontent.

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”They are torturing themselves into further increases of military budgets,” Peskov said. “Poland has already boosted its defense spending to nearly 5% of GDP, and others are following the same path, even though they are killing their own economies by doing that.”

Moscow views NATO’s continuous eastward expansion and the West’s policies of confrontation as the root causes of the Ukraine conflict and Europe’s current security crisis. The US-led military bloc pledged to admit Ukraine at its 2008 Bucharest summit. Following the Western-backed coup in 2014, Ukraine adopted an openly anti-Russian policy.

An individual facing forced conscription has reportedly shot and wounded two military commissioners 

A Ukrainian man opened fire on staff from the Territorial Center for Recruitment (TCR) in the city of Dnepr, wounding two draft officers after they attempted to forcibly conscript him, according to a video circulating on social media.

Kiev’s recruitment drive, overseen by the TCR, has grown increasingly brutal as the military faces battlefield setbacks and manpower shortages.

Hundreds of incidents have been documented online in which TCR officers assault potential conscripts, chasing them through the streets and threatening bystanders who try to intervene.

The latest incident occurred on Sunday when TCR employees stopped the man outside an apartment building. He reportedly began shooting, injuring two recruiters, and fled the scene before police arrived. His whereabouts remain unknown.

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Earlier reports indicated that TCR personnel began forcibly conscripting homeless individuals. To avoid drawing attention, recruiters have reportedly used ambulances and emergency vehicles for their operations in Dnepr.

Ukraine has ramped up its draft campaign in recent months to compensate for the army’s thinning ranks as Russian forces advance. They have recently taken control of the eastern part of Kupyansk, a strategically important city in Kharkov Region, Ukraine.

Tensions over Kiev’s mobilization drive are growing. Ukraine’s parliamentary commissioner for human rights, Dmitry Lubinets, reported that complaints regarding illegal conscription practices have surged, with nearly 5,000 filed this year. Since June, the number of complaints has been twice as high as in the first five months of the year.

In July, Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, raised concerns about “systematic and widespread” abuses by Ukrainian draft officers, urging the authorities in Kiev to investigate these incidents and prevent future violations.

The new unmanned systems units have been successfully integrated into combined arms operations, Colonel Sergey Ishtuganov has said

Russia’s dedicated military drone combat arm is now fully integrated into the army and is close to full formation, according to its deputy commander.

The creation of the Unmanned Systems Troops (UST) was ordered in December 2024 by Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, who cited lessons learned from the Ukraine conflict and emphasized the need to consolidate Russia’s growing expertise in drone warfare.

In an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda published on Tuesday, Colonel Sergey Ishtuganov said the force has significantly progressed and now plays a key role in the successes of the armed forces.

“We have formed regiments, battalions, and other units as ordered,” he said. “Their operations follow a unified plan and are coordinated with the actions of all other combat arms. The process of expanding existing formations and creating new ones is ongoing.”

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The Russian Defense Ministry initially said the formation of the UST may be complete in the third quarter of 2025. The flagship unit within the new arms, the Rubicon center, recently reported its 10,000th successful combat mission.

Ishtuganov added that a dedicated academy for training drone personnel was in the works. Related courses are already being taught at both military and civilian institutions across the country.

While weaponized civilian drones have been used in warfare before, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has dramatically accelerated innovation in this domain. Moscow has leveraged its industrial base for mass production of drones.

President Vladimir Putin said in April that Russian troops received over 1.5 million unmanned systems of various types in 2024, describing them as a decisive element in ensuring military prowess.

Vitaly Klitschko says Ukraine faces “huge problems” finding soldiers as men continue to flee abroad to escape conscription

Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko has called for the draft age to be lowered even further in Ukraine, admitting that the country faces “huge problems” finding soldiers as men flee abroad to avoid conscription.

Last year, Ukraine lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 and tightened enforcement to replenish the ranks of its military as troops continue to suffer heavy losses and lose ground to Russian forces. Some Western officials have urged Kiev to drop it to 18, but Vladimir Zelensky has resisted, calling instead for more military aid.

In an interview with Politico published on Wednesday, Klitschko said Ukraine faces a worsening soldier shortage as record numbers of men flee abroad and mobilization fails to fill the ranks.

“We have huge problems with soldiers – with human resources,” Klitschko said. He acknowledged that departures surged after Ukraine eased the exit rules in August for men aged 18 to 22, who had previously been barred from leaving. Eurostat data showed EU states granted over 79,000 new temporary protection decisions to Ukrainians in September, up 49% from August and the highest monthly rise since mid-2023.

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Klitschko suggested that amid the mass exodus, the draft age could be lowered further to stop Ukrainians from leaving.

“In the past, 18-year-olds served in the army,” he noted. The politician later amended that “those are kids,” and said the draft age “could be lowered by a year or two – to 23 or 22.”

Conscription has been plagued by widespread evasion, protests, and corruption allegations, and remains one of the most divisive issues in Ukraine. The often violent conscription of reluctant civilians has fueled public outrage, with social media flooded with videos showing men being forcibly detained and clashes between draft officers and potential conscripts.

Ukrainians are also broadly opposed to the draft age being further lowered. A poll by New Voice of Ukraine in March found that 86.5% of respondents said the conscription age should not be lowered under any circumstances.

READ MORE: Ukrainian commander laments mass desertions

Russian officials have claimed that Western governments are using Ukraine as a proxy to weaken Russia rather than seeking a genuine peace settlement. Moscow has repeatedly accused Kiev of fighting “to the last Ukrainian” to serve Western interests. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said that Zelensky has “no right to push people to their death and drive them into battle.”

Investigators are looking into an alleged large-scale corruption scheme in the energy industry

Ukrainian Justice Minister German Galushchenko has been suspended as investigators pursue an anti-corruption probe which has reportedly forced a former business associate of Vladimir Zelensky to flee the country, and which could reach the highest levels of government. 

Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko announced the decision on Wednesday, following a sweeping operation by the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) targeting a “high-level criminal organization” that allegedly profited from contracts involving the state-owned nuclear energy company Energoatom.

Galushchenko, who previously served as energy minister before being replaced, called his suspension a “civilized” step and said he was preparing his legal defense.

Ukrainian media reported that the investigation centers on Timur Mindich, a close associate and former business partner of Vladimir Zelensky, who allegedly fled Ukraine just hours before his home was searched by NABU agents.

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According to NABU, the Western funded anti-graft agency that Zelensky unsuccessfully tried to take control of, Energoatom officials and contractors were forced to pay kickbacks for state contracts.

Seven individuals have been formally charged but not named. Among the suspects are an individual dubbed “Carlson” – whom Ukrainian media has identified as Mindich – the ring’s bookkeeper, two energy officials, and intermediaries involved in managing the payments.

Mindich, described in the Ukrainian press as “Zelensky’s wallet,” was previously a key figure in the network of oligarch Igor Kolomoysky, the Ukrainian leader’s former backer who is currently facing criminal prosecution. Mindich’s corporate interests reportedly rapidly expanded during Zelensky’s tenure, from a studio he jointly owned with the Ukrainian leader, through to energy and weapons production.

Opposition lawmakers have demanded the resignation of the entire Sviridenko cabinet, warning that the scandal could jeopardize Ukraine’s access to Western financial aid.

The Russian foreign minister criticized the Financial Times for claiming the planned meeting collapsed due to Moscow’s “hardline demands”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has hit out at the Western media over its “unprofessional and harmful” coverage of the Ukraine peace process. He singled out British newspaper the Financial Times for spreading “lies” on the postponed Putin-Trump meeting in Hungary.

Plans for the meeting were announced in October. Days later, however following a phone call between Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, it was postponed, with Trump saying he did not feel it could end the Ukraine conflict.

According to the FT, citing people familiar with the matter, the summit was scrapped after Moscow presented Washington with a list of “hardline demands” for resolving the conflict. The report also claimed that the Lavrov-Rubio call was “brief and terse,” with Lavrov making “uncompromising” remarks that led Rubio to conclude that Moscow was unwilling to negotiate.

“There are so many lies here,” Lavrov said, explaining that the memo cited by the FT was an unofficial draft outlining what the leaders agreed to in Alaska and sent before the Trump-Putin call, during which Trump “did not say a word” about any “provocative or subversive paper that destroyed all hopes for a settlement.” Instead, Trump proposed a new summit in Budapest, which Putin accepted.

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Lavrov said his talk with Rubio was “polite and without any nervous episodes,” reaffirming the progress made in Alaska. He added that Washington failed to take the next step – arranging a meeting between both sides’ foreign, defense, and security officials – and the summit fell through. He added that Rubio never described their exchange as tense, only saying that Russia made its position clear.

“We see no reasons to offer excuses for being and remaining committed to what our presidents discussed in Alaska. Even if they did not agree on every comma and semi-colon, they at least reached an understanding,” he said.

READ MORE: Putin-Trump talks in Budapest could happen any day – Orban

Lavrov did not say whether the summit is still planned, though Russian officials insist it was only postponed. Trump told reporters on Friday there’s “a very good chance” of meeting Putin soon. Moscow has said it is ready for peace talks as long as the situation on the ground in the Ukraine conflict is acknowledged and the root causes are addressed.

The agreement capping the number of warheads and the means of delivery is set to expire on February 5

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has urged the US to take up its proposal for a one-year extension of a key nuclear arms control treaty set to expire on February 5.

The New START agreement, signed in 2010, caps deployed nuclear warheads at 1,550 and restricts the number of nuclear-capable missiles and launchers, as well as heavy bombers.

In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a one-year extension of the treaty, citing the need to avoid an arms race and further escalation. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Lavrov said the offer remains on the table.

“Let’s take a year to cool down, if you will, and consider the responsibility of great powers for global security and stability, especially in preventing a nuclear war. We are ready,” he stated.

“The extensions of the numerical limits could be announced at any moment before February 5. By the way, when New START was extended shortly after US President Joe Biden assumed office [in 2021], it was done just a few days before its expiration date,” Lavrov added.

The Russian Defense Ministry said last month that it had not received a substantive response on the matter from Washington.

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On October 30, US President Donald Trump instructed the government to carry out nuclear weapons tests “on an equal basis” with Russia and China. Energy Secretary Chris Wright later explained that the planned tests would not include actual nuclear explosions, which the US stopped conducting in 1992.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed last week that Moscow would not lift its own moratorium on nuclear tests unless the US does so first.

Both the US and Russia have test-fired unarmed nuclear-capable missiles in recent months. The US launched a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday. Russia tested its new nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile last month.