The $100bn Energoatom corruption scandal that broken on November 10 has caused outrage in Ukraine. While the population is shivering in metro stations to escape a barrage of Russian missiles targeting their power assets, the elite in Bankova have been stealing tens of millions of dollars or more.

There has been no popular reaction yet, no street demonstrations, but the people are bitterly disappointed. More troubling is the effect this will have on Ukraine’s European donors at a time when the government is staring a macroeconomic collapse in the face. SO far the EU has said it will continue to fund Ukraine regardless, but at a minimum it will now attach even more stringent anti-graft checks to any or all of any money sent to Kyiv.

The calls for more accountability and for the punishment of those responsible – the arrest and jailing of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy friends in particular – have gone public. Ukraine Business News (UBN), an ardent supporter of the Ukrainian cause, highlighted these sentiments in an editorial on November 18 that is reproduced in full below.

 

The recent corruption scandal in the energy sector has caused significant damage to our country while simultaneously benefiting the Kremlin. It took Zelenskiy too long to travel around the world seeking weapons, energy supplies, equipment, and other forms of support. He has been working to build trust for nearly four years since the Russians began their genocidal war against Ukraine.

However, one scandal has undone all that effort and destroyed his reputation overnight. As many experts point out and as many others understand, such a large corruption scheme could not have been carried out without the knowledge of the president's office. While we, ordinary Ukrainians, are struggling with electricity outages and begging the world for help, government officials are stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from their own people, who are under constant shelling, hiding in bomb shelters, and cooking on portable gas stoves in basements.

The scandal directly undermines Zelenskiy's reputation abroad and, therefore, Ukraine's as well. Aside from hurting business investment, this scandal and, most likely, others to be revealed in the coming weeks/months will very likely negatively impact the West's willingness to provide defence and budgetary support, thereby undermining political stability in the country in due course.

Moreover, Zelenskiy's attempt to strip anti-corruption agencies of their independence demonstrated that they already knew something was going on and did not want it to go public. Also, this might be a reason why some agencies were unable to appoint a director for a year. This looks very, very bad.

The worst part isn't even the theft. The worst part is that no one will end up in jail. The harshest punishment will be resignation and appointment to other government positions over time after everything is sorted out.

How does it help Russia? If Ukraine's allies cut their aid, every penny lost will be directly assisting Putin, enabling him to continue destroying us. In some countries, marauding and stealing during wartime is a crime that is punished by execution or life imprisonment. But, unfortunately, not in Ukraine.

Best Regards, UBN Editorial Team.