SIMFEROPOL, February 16. /TASS/. The arrest of former Ukrainian Energy and Justice Minister German Galushchenko is another sign of Vladimir Zelensky’s imminent downfall, Mikhail Sheremet, a State Duma lawmaker from Crimea and a member of the Security and Anti-Corruption Committee, told TASS.
Earlier, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau confirmed that Galushchenko, implicated in the case of businessman Timur Mindich, was detained while attempting to leave the country. Galushchenko served as minister of energy from 2021 to 2025. He later headed the Ministry of Justice for several months before being dismissed over his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal.
"These events are a powerful indicator that the Kiev regime’s ship has sprung a leak that can no longer be plugged by obedient sailors. That is why Zelensky’s corrupt entourage, like cunning rats, began to scatter, spreading panic on the rickety vessel, signaling a tightening noose around the neck of the Ukrainian dictator and another collapse of Nazism, which was revived with the help of the West," Sheremet said.
Mindich case
On November 10, 2025, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office announced an investigation into a major corruption scheme in the energy sector, dubbed Operation Midas. Searches were conducted at the Energoatom energy company and at the residences of entrepreneur Timur Mindich and Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who was later suspended. Galushchenko had served as the country’s energy minister at the time of the alleged offenses. Investigators said that participants in the scheme had laundered about $100 million. NABU also began releasing recordings of conversations from Mindich’s apartment that revealed discussions of corrupt practices.
On November 11, charges were also brought against former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of National Unity Alexey Chernyshov, along with Mindich. Mindich, who some have called Zelensky’s "wallet," left the country hours before the searches began and is now in Israel. On November 17, reports said that Andrey Yermak might appear in the case files under the pseudonym Ali Baba. Searches were conducted at his office and apartment on November 28, and Zelensky dismissed him later the same day.