A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is promising to reform state-owned energy companies as he faces the worst scandal of his five years in office. Anti-corruption investigators accuse his close associates of skimming $100 million from the country's nuclear power company. The scandal also comes as Russia continues to make advances on the frontline. Joining us now from Kyiv is NPR's Ukraine correspondent Joanna Kakissis. So, Joanna, the scandal in Ukraine's energy sector, how did it come to light?
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: So, A, it was the work of Ukraine's anti-corruption watchdogs, which are independent and have played a big role in cleaning up corruption in Ukraine over the last decade. Investigators from these agencies spent 15 months on this probe, uncovering a scheme that they say included several individuals getting kickbacks by manipulating contracts at Ukraine's state-owned nuclear energy company. Now, the evidence includes a thousand hours of wiretaps that incriminate a friend of Zelenskyy's and forced the resignations of two government ministers. Zelenskyy himself, though, has not been implicated. He is backing the investigation, and he says he's planning to reform how the energy sector is managed.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So just to repeat what you said - Zelenskyy not implicated. So who is involved?
KAKISSIS: So the alleged ringleader is this guy named Timur Mindich. He ran a production company with Zelenskyy. He fled Ukraine a week ago and is now believed to be in hiding in Israel. Also implicated is Herman Halushchenko, who worked - who served as energy minister until a few months ago. We spoke with Volodymyr Kudrytskiy. He's the former CEO of Ukraine's grid operator, and he said he was fired last year after refusing Halushchenko's demands to appoint what Kudrytskiy called questionable people to executive roles in the energy company.
VOLODYMYR KUDRYTSKIY: They wanted to lead those departments which were responsible for procurement, corporate security, finance, legal. So those department that could be potentially involved if any wrongdoing would happen.
KAKISSIS: Now, Halushchenko denies wrongdoing, but Kudrytskiy, who called him out, was arrested on fraud charges in what anti-corruption activists call a politically motivated move.
MARTÍNEZ: How are Ukrainians reacting to these revelations?
KAKISSIS: Well, A, we've spoken to many Ukrainians in Kyiv, and they are angry, especially as the scandal is unfolding while Russian attacks are causing power blackouts in Ukraine. In central Kyiv, we met Tetiana Nosal (ph). She's a 42-year-old saleswoman.
TETIANA NOSAL: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: So she's saying, "we are slowly being sold out. And I hope what these people have done will weigh on their conscience because we all know what - that we cannot waste a single penny, that our military needs every penny right now." And that feeling of betrayal is a sentiment we heard from lots of people over the weekend, who now say they have also lost trust in Zelenskyy.
MARTÍNEZ: I was wondering how this might affect Zelenskyy, even though, as you said, he is not implicated. Now, all this is happening amid Russia's full-scale invasion, which is heading into its fourth year. So how are things looking on the frontlines?
KAKISSIS: The situation is very grim, A. Russian forces have infiltrated the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, a city Russia has been attacking for nearly two years. We spoke by phone with soldiers defending that city, including a drone pilot. At the request of Ukraine's military, which cites security reasons, NPR is identifying him by his military call sign, Goose.
GOOSE: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: So Goose is saying, "the strength of our forces is simply melting away, and that it won't be possible to hold on for long. I'd like to be optimistic," he says, "but that is the reality."
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Joanna Kakissis from Kyiv. Joanna, thanks.
KAKISSIS: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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