Trump silent on $100M Ukraine corruption scandal resignations

The Trump administration has thus far remained silent a couple of widening corruption scandal throughout the authorities and internal circle of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The White Home didn’t reply to a request for touch upon a $100 million corruption probe introduced this week that has already prompted the resignation of senior Ukrainian officers.

Corruption has lengthy been a sticking level in US-Ukraine relations. In 2019, the Trump administration reduce off about $400 million in navy help to Ukraine over considerations about authorities corruption. On the similar time, Trump’s associates sought details about then-Democratic rival Joe Biden, who was vice chairman beneath Barack Obama.

In the meantime, Biden’s son Hunter held a $50,000-a-month board seat at Ukrainian vitality firm Burisma. As vice chairman, Joe Biden had threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. mortgage ensures except Ukraine fired prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who has been accused by Western governments of failing to research corruption circumstances. Shokin later claimed he was fired for investigating Burisma — a declare U.S. and European officers dispute.

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Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Vitality Minister Svitlana Grynchuk submitted their resignations on November 12, 2025. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Photos; Andrii Nesterenko/International Photos Ukraine through Getty Photos)

President Donald Trump has labored for months to dealer a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, which has offered the U.S. with about $175 billion in help because the warfare started in 2022.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption businesses – the Nationwide Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Particular Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Workplace (SAP) – stated they spent 15 months on ‘Operation Midas’, an investigation that included round 1,000 hours of phone faucets. Investigators say the investigation uncovered a kickback scheme wherein contractors for the state nuclear firm Energoatom paid 10 to fifteen p.c bribes, totaling about $100 million, to meet authorities contracts.

In line with prosecutors, the alleged ringleader was Timur Mindich, a longtime affiliate of Zelenskyy and co-owner of his former manufacturing studio, in addition to an adviser to Justice Minister German Galushchenko. Authorities say Galushchenko, who served as vitality minister till July, helped facilitate the cash laundering operation and acted beneath Mindich’s affect.

Ukrainian Vitality Minister German Galushchenko, middle, is in the course of an vitality corruption investigation that’s rocking Ukraine. (Gleb Garanich/File Photograph/Reuters)

Mindich fled Ukraine early Monday, hours earlier than investigators raided his residence. Each Galushchenko and his successor, Vitality Minister Svitlana Grynchuk, stated they might resign at Zelenskyy’s request. 5 suspects have been arrested and 7 others are beneath official suspicion, prosecutors stated.

In a press release, NABU alleged that the felony community had transferred funds to “an unnamed former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine”, internally recognized by the code title Che Guevara. Investigators stated about $1.2 million was traced to that particular person.

“By utilizing their official connections throughout the ministry and the state-owned firm,” the suspects “ensured management over personnel selections, buying processes and monetary flows,” Ukraine’s anti-corruption businesses stated.

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

Zelenskyy shouldn’t be straight concerned, however the revelations solid a shadow over a president who constructed his profession on guarantees to root out corruption. He publicly supported the investigation, saying Monday night that “any efficient motion towards corruption could be very needed” and that “the inevitability of punishment is important.”

Earlier this yr, Zelenskiy confronted backlash after proposing tighter presidential oversight of Ukraine’s impartial anti-corruption businesses – a plan he later withdrew.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) meets with US President Donald Trump in Washington DC, United States on August 19, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu through Getty Photos)

Earlier than coming into politics, the previous comic typically joked in regards to the deep-rooted corruption in his nation. “Is it doable to change into president and never steal?” he as soon as joked. “It is a rhetorical query, like nobody has tried but.” His 2019 election marketing campaign centered on dismantling the oligarch-dominated political system and rising transparency.

Now, nearly seven years later — with no wartime elections scheduled — some Ukrainians see him as more and more depending on a small internal circle that consolidates their very own energy and workouts it with restricted management.

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Investigators say a number of the laundered cash was for gear supposed to guard vitality amenities from Russian missile assaults. Ukraine continues to face rolling energy outages, with many residents restricted to 5 to eight hours of electrical energy a day, as Russian forces goal vitality infrastructure heading into winter.

Final week, the European Fee praised Ukraine’s “important efforts” to combat corruption, however warned that “restricted progress” might jeopardize its bid to affix the European Union. The fee additionally warned that experiences of political strain on anti-corruption teams “solid doubts on Ukraine’s dedication” and urged Kyiv to “keep away from any backsliding on its outstanding reform achievements.”