A former associate of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been accused of being the mastermind behind a $100 million embezzlement scheme.

Tymur Mindich, who was once Zelenskyy’s business partner, was identified by Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs as being the orchestrator of a scheme involving top officials and Ukraine’s state nuclear power company. Prior to the scandal, some feared Mindich’s growing influence over Ukraine’s lucrative industries that he had access to because of his ties to Zelenskyy.

Mindich allegedly exerted control over loyalists who then pressured contractors for Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power company, demanding kickbacks to bypass bureaucratic obstacles. The requested kickbacks were reportedly as high as 15%.

Despite his history with Mindich, Zelenskyy was not implicated in the investigation. The Ukrainian president also issued sanctions against his former business partner once the anti-corruption findings were revealed.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION STAYS SILENT AS MASSIVE UKRAINE CORRUPTION SCANDAL ROCKS ZELENSKYY’S INNER CIRCLE

On Nov. 11, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said that a group of individuals, including Mindich, “set up a major corruption scheme to control key state-owned enterprises,” including the country’s state-owned nuclear agency, the Kyiv Independent reported. The Ukrainian news outlet said that sources confirmed law enforcement searched properties tied to Mindich on Nov. 10, but he was tipped off and fled.

Mindich remains at large, with Politico reporting that he fled to Israel as the scheme unraveled and law enforcement zeroed in on him.

“Any effective actions against corruption are very needed. The inevitability of punishment is necessary,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address, according to the Kyiv Independent.

TOP UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS IN ZELENSKYY GOVERNMENT SUBMIT RESIGNATIONS AMID $100 MILLION CORRUPTION SCANDAL

The NABU’s 15-month investigation allegedly involved 1,000 hours of wiretapping and resulted in 70 raids, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing the agency.

“What we were hearing only as rumors now has some evidence,” activist Tetiana Shevchuk of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center told The Associated Press. “For a long time we have heard that Tymur Mindich is a shadow controller of the energy sector.”

In addition to Mindrich, Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko, who was Energy Minister from 2021 to 2025, was also raided, according to the Kyiv Independent, which cited sources.

Mindich was co-owner of Zelenskyy’s production company Kvartal 95, something that Shevchuk believes pushed him toward politics. The activist told the AP that Mindich “would have never been in politics, never been in a position of power or business without his connection to Zelenskyy, and this magnitude is worse because it’s happening during war time, and it is related to energy infrastructure at a time when Ukrainians don’t have electricity in their homes.”

This isn’t the only NABU investigation centered on Mindich. The anti-corruption agency is allegedly working on a probe into the former Zelenskyy associate’s dealings with Ukraine’s top drone manufacturer, Fire Point. However, NABU has yet to release its findings in that investigation.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Zelenskyy’s office for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

By&nbspEuonews

Published on
15/11/2025 – 9:37 GMT+1

Russia temporarily suspends roughly 2% of its global oil supply following a Ukrainian strike on one of its major facilities in its southwestern port city of Novorossiysk in Krasnodar Krai on Friday, according to multiple Russian officials and Telegram channels.

The attack, which struck the Sheskharis oil terminal and sparked fires, according to officials, serves as the endpoint for pipelines. It sparked a large fire at the site, now extinguished, causing it to suspend exports of 2.2 million barrels per day, according to Reuters, citing industry sources.

Ukrainian strikes have repeatedly targeted Novorossiysk as it acts as a key hub for Russia’s Black Sea logistics and energy infrastructure.

Russian oil refineries and petrochemical facilities are considered to be legitimate military targets by Kyiv, as they help fund Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The Krasnodar Krai operational headquarters reported that the oil terminal had been hit, damaging several coastal facilities.

A civilian vessel located in the port was reported to have been struck in the mass attack, leaving three crew members injured, local media outlet RIA Novosti said.

Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, commented on the incident on social media. “This is the oil terminal in Novorossiysk after the strike,” he wrote on Telegram. “Meanwhile, Russia is hitting residential buildings and energy infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, earlier in the week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media X that “For the first time since the beginning of the war, a noticeable decline has been recorded this year in Russia’s oil production and refining,” adding, “The oil and gas revenues of the Russian budget are decreasing, and by the end of this year, Russia will have lost at least US$37 billion in budget oil and gas income.”

The latest strike on Novorossiysk came as Russia launched waves of drones and missiles at Kyiv in a massive overnight attack that killed at least six people, left 14 people injured, and set several apartment buildings on fire.