What the Energoatom case meant for Ukraine's government by 17 November 2025
A look back at how a National Anti-Corruption Bureau investigation into the nuclear power operator led to two ministerial resignations in November 2025.
What did the Energoatom investigation change in Ukraine's government by 17 November 2025? Within a week, it had cost the country two ministers and put a state nuclear company at the centre of a major corruption case.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine began investigating a large-scale corruption scheme in the energy sector on 11 November 2025. The scheme involved Energoatom, the state nuclear power operator. The next day, 12 November, Herman Halushchenko was suspended from his post as justice minister because of the inquiry. Later that day he resigned, as did energy minister Svitlana Hrynchuk.
The scheme and its scale
The case is known as Operation Midas. It was described as an alleged kickback scheme around Energoatom. The alleged head of the group, Tymur Mindych, was reported to have fled Ukraine.
The investigation was not a sudden one. It was run by the anti-corruption bureau together with the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and had been launched in 2024. According to later accounts, data collection lasted 15 months, with more than 70 searches, 4 million US dollars seized and about 1,000 hours of audio recordings of the suspects' conversations obtained. The case concerned large-scale bribery in the energy sector during the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Why it mattered for public life
The sequence showed anti-corruption bodies pursuing a case that reached the cabinet: a suspension and two resignations followed within a day of the investigation becoming public. The departures affected two portfolios, justice and energy, and the energy ministry's remit directly covered the sector under investigation.
On 16 November, attention in the wider region turned elsewhere. Polish police were investigating a broken railway line near Życzyn, in Garwolin County, as possible sabotage, and two Ukrainian citizens were identified as suspects. That case was separate from the Energoatom inquiry.
As of 17 November 2025, the Energoatom investigation was still ongoing, and the resignations of the two ministers marked its most visible political consequence so far.
