Zelensky faces heat over ally’s $100 million corruption scheme in energy sector amid Russia war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s close ally, businessman Timur Mindich, the co-owner of Kvartal 95, the media company founded by Zelensky, is embroiled in a massive $100 million corruption scandal involving kickbacks from Ukraine’s energy sector, notably from state-owned Energoatom. Mindich, dubbed “Zelensky’s wallet” by Russian media, allegedly orchestrated a criminal network extracting 10-15% bribes from energy subcontractors, with raids uncovering gold-plated luxury items and bundles of cash. As anti-corruption authorities probe the scheme, Zelensky has called for maximum transparency and demanded the removal of the Justice and Energy Ministers linked to the case.