Zelenskyy Ally Timur Mindič Flees Ukraine Amid Corruption Examination
KYIV, Ukraine – Timur Mindič, a long-time freind adn former business partner of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has reportedly left Ukraine as investigators probe allegations of large-scale corruption within the country’s energy sector, specifically involving enerhoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power plant operator. While not directly named in initial statements, Mindič’s ties to individuals implicated in the scheme have drawn scrutiny.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced Monday a crackdown on a “high-ranking criminal organization” documented after 15 months of investigation and analysis of 1,000 hours of audio recordings. The group allegedly created a corruption project to control key state enterprises, including Enerhoatom. NABU found the organization collected “fees” of 10 to 15 percent from Enerhoatom’s suppliers, effectively sidelining official management in favor of external “supervisors.”
“in fact, the management of a strategic enterprise with an annual revenue of more than 200 billion hryvnias ($4.7 billion) was not carried out by officials, but by external people who had no formal function and assumed the role of a kind of supervisors,” NABU stated.
Searches have been conducted at premises linked to Minister of Justice Herman Halushchenko, who served as Minister of Energy from 2021-2025, as well as his advisor Ihor Myroňuk and Dmytro Basov, a former prosecutor and ex-head of Enerhoatom’s physical security department. Myroňuk previously worked for Andriy Derkach, a former Ukrainian parliament member who now serves as a Russian senator after fleeing to Russia in 2024.
Mindič, a film producer and co-owner of Kvartal 95 studio, has extensive business interests and has benefited from his relationship with Zelenskyy, according to local media reports. the investigation into Mindič’s activities is reportedly among the reasons Zelenskyy recently attempted to undermine NABU’s independence, sparking public protests.
