A senior Ukrainian diplomat has warned that a sweeping corruption investigation in the country’s energy sector may ultimately reveal direct coordination with Russian interests, deepening the political impact of a case that has already shaken Kyiv’s leadership.
Speaking on Espreso TV, Roman Bezsmertnyi said that officials who remained in place at the state nuclear operator Energoatom after the period when a team linked to former MP and now Russian senator Andrii Derkach held influence over the company were effectively working in the interests of Moscow.
“From the moment when Andrii Derkach’s team took over the management and control of Energoatom, it was clear that the entire system, including the security deputies who remained from that time, would inevitably be exploited for the interests of the Russian Federation,” he said, adding that recent developments had made this “absolutely clear”.
His comments come as Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) pursue “Operation Midas”, a 15-month probe into what investigators describe as a high-level criminal organisation operating inside the energy sector. The group is alleged to have imposed a so-called “barrier” scheme on Energoatom’s suppliers, extracting illicit payments worth 10–15% of contract values in return for access to, or continuity of, lucrative deals.
According to NABU, the operation has documented around 1,000 hours of audio recordings and led to dozens of searches and detentions. Investigators say that up to $100m in illicit funds was laundered through an office in central Kyiv linked to the family of Derkach, who fled to Russia after the full-scale invasion and subsequently became a senator there.
On 11 November, Ukrainian authorities announced that seven suspects had been formally notified of suspicion in connection with the alleged scheme, with five of them detained. Those named include a businessman identified as the alleged organiser, current and former senior figures in the energy sector, and individuals believed to have managed the laundering of funds.
Among those implicated is Tymur (Timur) Mindich, a media and business figure long associated with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio, who is alleged by NABU and SAPO to have played a central role in the network. Mindich reportedly left Ukraine shortly before searches at his premises in Kyiv, and is expected to be tried in absentia.
Bezsmertnyi argued that, beyond domestic graft, the case is likely to expose foreign involvement. “I have absolutely no doubt that the investigation will eventually reveal clear coordination of these actions with Russia,” he said. He suggested that the network included both Russian counterparties and what he described as “useful idiots” who were exploited because they were eager to earn money quickly. He predicted that the case would reveal “a whole cast of characters” driven either by financial gain or by readiness to “serve the Moscow ‘führer’”.
The diplomat stressed that the priority for Kyiv is to ensure that the case proceeds methodically to trial. “It is important that Ukrainian society is fighting corruption and that its anti-corruption bodies are active,” he said. “The case must be brought to court, and those who committed crimes must be held accountable.”
International partners are closely watching how Ukraine handles the affair. Western governments have repeatedly linked financial support and progress on EU accession to concrete results in tackling high-level corruption. Anti-graft reforms and the integrity of bodies such as NABU remain key benchmarks for Kyiv’s EU path, while recent EU reports have highlighted the central role of independent investigative institutions in Ukraine’s reform process.
Bezsmertnyi said European partners were “insisting” that the investigation be pursued to its conclusion, and noted that the work of NABU and SAPO was helping to unlock emergency aid from the United Kingdom and Germany, worth almost €67m, for repairs to Ukraine’s energy system following Russian strikes.
The scandal has already triggered moves by Ukraine’s leadership to demonstrate a tougher stance. President Zelenskyy has pledged a comprehensive overhaul of the state-owned energy sector, including Energoatom, while Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has announced government plans to renew supervisory boards and executive bodies at major energy companies and to carry out broad audits of their activities.
The case unfolds against the backdrop of an intensified Russian campaign against Ukraine’s power infrastructure. Repeated missile and drone attacks have damaged generating capacity and grid connections, including facilities serving nuclear power plants, prompting warnings about both civilian resilience and wider European nuclear safety.
For Kyiv, the Energoatom investigation has become a test of whether wartime Ukraine can confront entrenched corruption while fighting a large-scale invasion. For its partners, it is a measure of whether substantial financial and military support can be matched by visible progress on rule-of-law commitments. As Bezsmertnyi put it, the outcome now depends on whether Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions are allowed to complete their work “meticulously, accurately and professionally” – and on whether the courts will ultimately deliver verdicts in a case that reaches from Kyiv’s energy bureaucracy to a Russian senator now sitting in Moscow.
