Mariana Budjeryn, senior researcher at the Center for Nuclear Security Policy (CNSP), discusses the corruption scheme in Ukraine's energy sector recently unearthed by the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), and its implications on the ongoing war.
A man walks in the city centre, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, November 26, 2025.
On November 10, 2025, the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) unveiled a massive corruption scheme in Ukraine’s energy sector, involving embezzlement and laundering of at least $100 million. The scheme is centered on Energoatom, Ukraine’s national nuclear power operator, which runs the country’s four nuclear power plants with 15 nuclear reactors (one of these, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with its six reactors, is occupied by Russia). Ominously, the scheme involves individuals with close connections to the Office of the President and to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally.
The revelation of massive graft amid the war shook the Ukrainian public sphere to its core, yet headlines soon shifted to the 28-point “peace plan,” of suspected Russian provenance, presented to Kyiv by a U.S. envoy on November 20, and the U.S.-Ukrainian negotiations in Geneva that followed on November 23. The rot within the Ukrainian government uncovered by the NABU investigation, however, will not go away. In fact, as the case unfolds, more unpleasant discoveries are likely to surface, threatening to irreparably mar Zelenskyy’s legacy.
The NABU and SAPO are key anti-corruption institutions established in the wake of Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity that sought to clean up systemic corruption and abuse of power in the country. During its 15-month-long covert investigation, code-named “Operation Midas,” the NABU collected 1,000 hours of audio recordings and conducted over 70 searches. So far, seven people have been indicted for embezzlement, bribery, and illicit enrichment.
