Ukraine's Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk and Justice Minister German Galushchenko submitted their resginations, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Wednesday amid a wide-reaching corruption scandal involving the state nuclear power company.
"The ministers submitted their resignations in accordance with the law," the Ukrainian prime minister posted on social media.
Anti-corruption prosecutors alleged that Galushchenko received"personal benefits" from a $100 million kickback scheme in the energy sector, which he oversaw as minister until July 2025 and which has been battered by Russian strikes throughout the war.
The announcement came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the two ministers to resign over the corruption scandal.
"The minister of justice and the minister of energy cannot remain in their positions," Zelensky said in a video posted on social media.
It is"absolutely unacceptable that there are still some (corruption) schemes in the energy sector" while Ukrainians are facing daily outages from Russian attacks, he added.
The government had earlier suspended Galushchenko, who was energy minister until earlier this year, but he is not yet known to have been charged.
Grynchuk, who took over the energy ministry in July, said earlier that Energoatom, the state nuclear operator at the centre of the investigation, was cooperating with the investigators.
Top ally of Zelensky accused of corruption
Ukrainian investigators on Tuesday accused a close ally of Zelensky of orchestrating a $100 million corruption scheme, as a major standoff over graft in the war-torn country escalates.
The accusations against Timur Mindich are the latest episode in a sweeping corruption scandal involving claims of massive embezzlement from the energy sector, even as the country’s infrastructure is battered by Russian attacks.
Mindich co-owns the media production company Kvartal 95, founded by Zelensky, who was a star comedian before running for office.
“Mindich exercised control over the accumulation, distribution, and legalisation of money obtained through criminal means in the energy sector of Ukraine,” a prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said.
The suspect used “friendly relations with the president of Ukraine” in his criminal activity, the prosecutor added during a pre-trial hearing for another man accused of involvement in the scheme.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said Monday it had uncovered a graft scheme in the energy sector involving $100 million of laundered funds.
“Detectives have detained five individuals and notified seven members of the organisation of suspicion,” NABU said in a statement later on Tuesday, meaning charges were brought against the seven.
Among them was “a businessman – the head of the criminal organisation,” the bureau added, without naming him – an apparent reference to Mindich, who was earlier identified by prosecutors as the mastermind of the scheme.
The head of NABU’s investigating team, Oleksandr Abakumov, told Ukrainian state TV that Mindich had left the country shortly before the raids.
Energy under attack
Accusations of embezzlement from the energy industry at a time of relentless attacks and widespread power shortages have stoked fresh public anger.
Moscow has escalated attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector ahead of the war’s fourth winter – launching swarms of drones along with missiles.
They have hit generation facilities as well as power transmission and distribution systems at the same time, complicating repair efforts.
Eradicating systemic corruption is one of the top requirements for Ukraine’s application for EU membership – and any hurdles to it could slow down the accession process.
Zelensky faced a massive backlash from Ukrainians and Brussels over the summer when he tried to bring the two independent anti-corruption bodies, NABU and SAPO, under government control.
