Ukraine’s Government is Rocked by a Corruption Scandal

0:00Today on State of the World, Ukraine's government is rocked by a corruption scandal.

0:09You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close, where they're happening. It's Monday, December 8th. I'm Greg Dixon. Just as Ukraine is engaged in high-stakes peace talks with the U.S. and Russia, their government has been hit with a massive corruption scandal. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hasn't been implicated, it has been a major challenge for him. and it may have hurt Ukraine's chances of joining the European Union. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Kyiv reports on the scandal and how Ukrainians are reacting. Operation Maidass dropped like a different kind of bombshell on Ukraine last month.

0:50The National Anti-Corruption Agency released this slickly produced five-part series on YouTube explaining its year-long investigation into fraud at Ukraine's state nuclear power giant, Enerhuatom. In the summer of 2024, НАBU started operations. Shocked Ukrainians tuned in as if to a Netflix drama, wiretapped conversations between officials with codenames like Che Guevara and Sugar Man, who the agency said had siphoned off$100 million allocated for structures to protect energy facilities from Russian missile attacks. Opposition parliamentarian Ines Sovsun said she heard there was corruption in the energy sector, but had no idea it was so deep and systemic.

1:34It was basically a whole system set up, not just some random bribes taking place. Generators hum on the sidewalks across Kiev, and people plan their lives around the scheduled rolling blackouts. The scandal stings even more because Ukrainians go hours without power as their energy grid is being damaged by constant attacks. Seven people are now under investigation, according to anti-corruption bureau NABU. President Volodymyr Zelensky himself has not been implicated, but Zelensky had to let his chief of staff, Andrei Yermak, go after investigators searched his home.

2:15Zelensky told the nation, nothing should distract us from defending Ukraine. Russia wants us to make mistakes. We will make none, he said. Lawmaker Sovsoon says Ukrainians are frustrated, but they're still united behind Zelensky. The government decided to fire two ministers who were involved in the scandal directly. Then the president decided to fire Yermak. Is that enough? Well, for the time being, it is probably, while we are waiting for further details. Ukrainians take fighting corruption seriously, says Yakub Parushensky, a geopolitical analyst with research center KI Insights. Historically, it is the thing that sort of distinguishes Ukraine from Russia, but it's also something that has a very sort of emotional appeal for a lot of Ukrainians.

3:04Emotional because of their hope to join the European Union. Over the summer, thousands of people came out in protests when the government tried to chip away at the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau. Young protesters saw Ukraine's future in the EU and understood reducing corruption is a key condition for getting in. Ukraine launched its bid to join the EU in 2014 after its so-called Dignity Revolution, which began in December 2013 with protests in Kiev's independent square, Parushinsky. Which really was a protest against the oligarchy, the sort of the corrupt system that had been set up under then-president Viktor Yanukovych.

3:48Viktor Yanukovych, widely seen as a puppet of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who canceled an agreement with the EU to sign a partnership with Russia. That's when Ukrainians came out to the streets.

4:06The protests led to political change when riot police opened fire, ultimately killing more than 100 people. Yanukovych fled to Russia, leading to new elections and pro-European leadership. But as Ukrainians turned towards Europe, Donbass and annexed Crimea to keep Ukraine in Russia's orbit. A decade later came his full-scale invasion.

4:35We visit the offices of anti-corruption agency NABU, where we speak to the star of the ominous videos, Detective Oleksandr Abakumov, who wears a big smile and a handcuffs pin on his lapel.

4:52Everybody understands that Ukraine has chosen its European path. It's no longer a story about a corrupt country, but about a country that fights corruption. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. Dmitry Kozyatynski agrees. The 30-year-old former soldier says it was a shock when the Anti-Corruption Bureau's independence came under threat this summer. He joined the protests. He says the current investigation must go to the end. In my opinion, the actual possibility of such operations to exist and to exist during the full-scale invasion, it shows that Ukrainian democracy is as strong as possible.

5:30Operation Maidas, he says, could never take place in Russia. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Kyiv.

5:42That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.