Statement by the European Solidarity faction
Seven years ago, Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to power under the banner of fighting corruption. It was on these same slogans that he brought a monopoly to parliament, led by his friends, partners, and allies from Kvartal 95.
Over the years, the president and his team have consistently shifted responsibility for their own failures onto their “predecessors” and, through a network of Telegram channels and fake news, branded everyone who wasn’t part of their “young team” as “corrupt.”
But the reality turned out to be the opposite. It was this young team that built and led the largest corruption ring in the country’s history—from control of state-owned enterprises in the energy, defense, and banking sectors to corruption in the Verkhovna Rada.
The latest NABU and SAP searches in parliament revealed what had long been discussed: envelopes, bribery of deputies, and organized crime schemes. The defendants were the president’s closest friends—deputies Kisel and others. These were people from his inner circle who could not act without political cover and sanction from above. It’s enough to recall how Yuzik, or Koryavchenkov, was implicated in several other corruption scandals before, but was never brought to justice.
This means the president’s direct political responsibility—for his business partners Mindich and Shefir, his friend Bakanov, and the so-called “parliamentary team” of Kisel and Yuzik.
It’s telling that all of this came to light on the day the country and its capital suffered a horrific enemy attack on its energy infrastructure, leaving millions without heat and power. The energy infrastructure proved so vulnerable, in part because it hadn’t been equipped with protective structures, as the funds for them had been looted.
But this is a verdict not only on specific names. It is a verdict on the entire mono-majority, which was held together by corruption, mutual responsibility, and the fear of losing power. It is a verdict on a system that has learned to profit from the state at a time when the country is bleeding.
At a minimum, all suspects must resign their mandates immediately. And the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada must announce the dissolution of the mono-majority.
Ukraine has no right to tolerate a government that uses war as a cover for robbing its own people. They are doing this at a time when the country is mobilizing all its resources to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces and ensure the country’s survival, when our team has transferred hundreds of millions of hryvnias in aid in the past week alone.
Accountability is inevitable. The only strength of this process is that the country still has independent anti-corruption institutions, created by our team, capable of doing their job honestly. And this is the guarantee that the country can clean up its act and maintain its European course.
The only political path now is to adhere to the new principles of forming power, namely a government of national salvation.
As a reminder, the NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, during an undercover operation, exposed an organized crime group that included current Ukrainian MPs.
NABU and SAP are also conducting a large-scale operation, “Operation Midas,” to expose corruption in the energy sector . According to investigators, the activities of a high-level criminal organization controlling financial flows and personnel decisions in state energy structures have been established.
Journalists from “Schemes” have identified the names of individuals who were notified of suspicion by NABU detectives as part of an investigation into corruption in the energy sector. Timur Mindich is among those involved.
Earlier, Zelenskyy imposed National Security and Defense Council sanctions against Kvartal-95 co-owner Timur Mindich and businessman Alexander Tsukerman , who are linked to a corruption case in the energy sector.
As noted, the State Border Service conducted an internal investigation and found that businessman Timur Mindich left Ukraine legally .
Incidentally, a puzzling situation has arisen regarding the case of businessmen Timur Mindich and Alexander Tsukerman’s departure abroad: the State Tax Service of Ukraine (GNU) refused to participate in the meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission , which was supposed to investigate the incident.
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