Two high-ranking Ukrainian officials have stepped down in the wake of a major corruption scandal involving a $100 million kickback scheme at the state-owned nuclear power company, Energoatom. On Wednesday, both Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk tendered their resignations, as announced by Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko on social media platform X.

Prime Minister Svyrydenko also revealed that the government had suspended several senior Energoatom officials as part of the ongoing corruption investigation. Furthermore, she mentioned that the cabinet has put forward proposals to impose personal sanctions on Timur Mindich, a former business associate of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as businessman Alexander Tsukerman.

Halushchenko and Grynchuk’s resignations were officially submitted on November 12, 2025. Their departures come amid a sweeping probe by Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

The agencies have been conducting a thorough 15-month investigation, known as “Midas,” which has unearthed a significant corruption network seeking to manipulate strategic state-owned enterprises. This latest development underscores Ukraine’s ongoing battle against high-level corruption within its energy sector.

Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), said they had led a 15-month investigation code-named “Midas” that had uncovered a “large-scale corruption scheme to influence strategic state-owned enterprises.”

It involved a “high level criminal [organization]” that systematically received “illicit benefits from Energoatom’s contractors in the amount of 10% to 15% of the contract value,” NABU said.

“In particular, Energoatom’s contractors were forced to pay kickbacks to avoid having payments for their services/products blocked or losing their supplier status,” the agencies announced.

The offices of NABU, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, on Oct. 1, 2019, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Sean Gallup/Getty)

The anti-corruption agencies stated that the alleged criminal organization had run a Kyiv-based “laundry” office whose premises belonged to the family of former Ukrainian lawmaker and current Russian senator Andrii Derkach.

The office kept “black accounting” records and laundered approximately $100 million through non-resident companies, according to NABU and SAPO.

Five people were detained, and another seven were placed under suspicion, including a former advisor to the Minister of Energy.

The scandal comes amid Russia’s escalating attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that have led to power outages across the country.

A seller waits for customers in a shop during a partial blackout in Lviv on Nov. 28, 2024, following Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP via Getty Images)

“Internally this scandal will be used to undermine unity and stability within the country. Externally, our enemies will use it as an argument to stop aid to Ukraine,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker with Zelenskyy’s party, according to The Associated Press.

“It looks really bad in the eyes of our European and American partners,” Merezhko said. “While Russians destroy our power grid, and people have to endure blackouts, someone at the top was stealing money during the war.”

Zelenskyy said in a post on X that he supports the investigations carried out by Ukraine’s law enforcement and anti-corruption officials.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy participates in a briefing at the Office of the President following a staff meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 7, 2025.

“Right now, it is extremely difficult for everyone in Ukraine – enduring power outages, Russian strikes, and losses. It is absolutely unacceptable that, amid all this, there are also some schemes in the energy sector,” he wrote. “I will sign a decree to impose sanctions on two individuals implicated in the NABU case concerning Energoatom. Right now we all must protect Ukraine. Undermining the state means you will be held accountable. Breaking the law means you will be held accountable.”