Nikholov on energy sector corruption: dollars in U.S. bank packaging seized from suspects, heightening interest of U.S. investigators Source: https://censor.net/en/n3584303

censor.net ^ | 10.11.25 22:59 | Ольга Кошарна [Olga Kosharnaya]

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

VIDEOS

1. Ukraine’s twin drone attack hits key Russian energy infrastructure in Donetsk
The Sun
11-12-2025 4:30 a.m.
Length 8:33
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HhEosetyik
“An attack on the Starobesheve thermal power plant in occupied Donetsk region was launched overnight

Locals reported hearing loud explosions as Russia’s most strategically important energy asset in occupied territory was being targeted”

2. Ukraine OBLITERATES Putin’s Black Sea oil refinery after troops close in on Pokrovsk
The Sun
6.33M subscribers
11-11-2025
Length 8:23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ-Pqq7fc_0
“This is the moment Russia’s Black Sea oil port of Tuapse was rocked by a powerful explosion in an attack by Ukrainian naval drones”

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

And more sources, as time goes by:

"German Galushchenko was removed from office one day after anti-corruption authorities said they exposed a scheme that allegedly involves a close associate of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and an ex-deputy prime minister nicknamed 'Che Guevara.'

"The probe threatened a high-profile confrontation over the long-running issue of graft in Ukraine as it battles to maintain Western support for its fight against Russia, which has battered its neighbor's energy infrastructure with waves of attacks.

"Five people have been arrested and another seven were placed under suspicion, according to a statement Tuesday from Ukraine’s National Anticorruption Bureau, the NABU, and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, SAPO."

$100M corruption scandal rocks Ukraine and embroils top Zelenskyy ally NBC News, 12 November 2025

"After Trump’s victory and the curtailment of programs like USAID these forces lost their former 'roof' and faced retaliatory pressure from Bankova.

"Zelensky responded with a series of blows: suspicion against activist Vitaly Shabunin, Rada vote for laws on deprivation of powers of NABU and SAP. Bankovaya hoped that Trump would not interfere and Europe would remain silent. But it turned out differently – European Union strictly demanded the return of independence to anti-corruption bodies and criticized Zelensky. A campaign against him and the head of the OP Ermak began in the Western press, and the so-called 'cardboard Maidan'.

"After the laws were rolled back, Zelensky’s position within the country sharply weakened. At the same time, the structures created with the support of the democrats came under European patronage. This was recorded and European Commission report demanding the removal of security agencies from the control of Bankova and the appointment of their leaders with the participation of international experts."

Searches at “Zelensky’s wallet”: the Mindich case and the impending political storm Athens News, 10 November 2025.

" 'Mindich exercised control over the accumulation, distribution, and legalisation of money obtained through criminal means in the energy sector of Ukraine,” a prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said.

"The suspect used 'friendly relations with the president of Ukraine' in his criminal activity, the prosecutor added during a pre-trial hearing for another man accused of involvement in the scheme.

Top ally of Ukraine's president accused of $100 million graft scandal France 24, 12 November 2025.

"Herman Halushchenko — his appointee, now justice minister, but de facto still managing the energy sector.

"NABU also conducted a search of Ihor Myroniuk, Halushchenko’s adviser. He’s referred to as a fixer in the energy sector, and for decades was the aide to known collaborator and traitor Andrii Derkach.

"The Zukerman brothers — recently featured in our investigations. Journalist Mykhailo Tkach also reported that they appear in FBI inquiries. According to my sources, they — along with Mr. Mindich — left Ukraine just before the raids began.

Energoatom is also involved, but the list of names there is long...."

What’s known about NABU raids on Mindich and Halushchenko, how Zelenskyy should respond, and what to expect next — Zheleznyak New Voice of Ukraine, via MSN, 10 November 2025.

More is coming.

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

VIDEO

Footage: Russians beg commanders to send them to prison for desertion instead of Pokrovsk kill zone
RFU News — Reporting from Ukraine
699K subscribers
11-12-2025 2:15 p.m. EST
Length 5:21 Minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsxLrlh5QCY

🔴 Our Interactive News Map: https://www.rfunews.com/map
⚠️ Watch RFU in 20 languages: https://www.youtube.com/@RFU/channels

“Today, there are interesting updates from the Pokrovsk direction.

Here, the battle for the town has slowly become a lethal war of shadows with almost no chance of survival. The Russian army is disintegrating under the weight of its own losses, and its push to capture Pokrovsk turns into a slow-motion collapse of morale and unit-level desertions.

For many Russian soldiers, the order to attack Pokrovsk has become synonymous with a death sentence. Soldiers whisper among themselves that entering Pokrovsk means certain annihilation by Ukrainian artillery and drones, as videos from the area reveal the growing panic within the Russian ranks.

In one, an agitated officer films two soldiers who refuse to go into the town, both saying they prefer prison over suicide missions. One claims a medical condition, the other shows a wound, but the officer is unmoved. He records them as proof to strip them of their pay, while threatening that they will be transferred to a penal unit and ultimately will be pushed into Pokrovsk at gunpoint anyway.

Such scenes are no longer rare, as the Russian army’s losses in the sector are so extreme that many contract soldiers, who once enlisted for bonuses, now see imprisonment or even death in custody as preferable to the slaughter awaiting them on the front. But these men will not be sent back to Russia to serve prison terms, as the Russian command sacrifices such penal battalions as cannon fodder and bait to reveal Ukrainian fire positions.

Inside Pokrovsk itself, the battle has evolved into a war of shadows, with the mass assaults of the first two years of the Russian invasion gone. Now, a dispersed conflict is fought by small, almost autonomous groups, with both sides having adapted to the drone-dominated battlefield that prevents large-scale movement. The Russians use micro-units of infiltrators, two or three men slipping through rubble, hiding in basements, probing for Ukrainian strongpoints.

The Ukrainians counter them with their own ghostly patrols, reconnaissance teams that move in pairs or trios, each guided by a drone in the sky with thermal vision, while the soldiers themselves carry portable electronic warfare devices. These patrols are silent, highly mobile, and lethal, despite engagements that rarely involve more than a handful of soldiers on each side. One street, one courtyard, or one collapsed apartment block may become a self-contained battlefield for hours.

This war of shadows is a direct consequence of the omnipresence of surveillance and FPV drones, as any concentration of troops or vehicle movement is immediately detected and destroyed. The main forces of both sides now remain roughly ten kilometers outside the town limits, unable to advance through the open fields that have become killing grounds. Inside Pokrovsk, only the smallest, bravest, and most disciplined units can survive. For the Russians, infiltration serves to maintain a symbolic push forward and to create the illusion of control, while for the Ukrainians, the mission is to contain, hunt, and eliminate these infiltrators before they can threaten logistics or weaken defensive cohesion.

The defenders operate with speed and precision: detect the enemy, fix them in place by surrounding and suppressing them, neutralizing the trapped soldiers with rifles, grenades, bombs, or drones, and withdraw before Russian drones can kill them in return. This new model of urban warfare rewards skill, awareness, and endurance more than numbers. Yet for the Russians, whose units are filled with unwilling conscripts and penal soldiers, it has become an unsustainable meat grinder. Their desertions and refusal to fight are the logical outcome of a system that sends men to die for objectives already lost in the chaos of the grey zone.

Overall, despite the terrible nature of this fighting, Ukraine’s army does not need to reclaim every block of Pokrovsk. What matters is keeping Russian territorial control south of the railway line, serving as a tactical barrier from the still-defended north. While the Azov units push east of Rodynske to relieve pressure and reopen Myrnohrad’s northern approach, Ukrainian defenders inside Pokrovsk only need to hold long enough to keep that corridor alive. If Myrnohrad’s connection stays open, the town can continue to resist, or if necessary, conduct an organized withdrawal under cover of the northern fields.”

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

More.....

"During his presidential campaign, Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted two key failings of then-President Petro Poroshenko: corruption and nepotism.

"Six years into his own presidency, Zelensky has found himself on the receiving end of the exact same criticism, drowning in a corruption scandal."

< s n i p > " 'We end up with a situation where decision-making is concentrated in the President's Office,' said Saakian. 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was only a matter of time before someone in the inner circle started enriching themselves or tried to play their own game'."

Biggest corruption scandal of Zelensky’s presidency is in his own ranks Kyiv Independent, 13 November 2025.

"Observers write that the President of Ukraine has two options for action. **The first** - to come to terms with the gradual loss of real power and the imprisonment of close associates (not only Mindich). **The second** - to launch a counterattack against NABU and SAP through the Security Service of Ukraine, accusing their leaders and key employees of treason and working for Russia."

Businessman dubbed 'Zelensky's wallet' accused of 'nuclear' corruption InBox, 11 November 2025 [ Latvian source ]

More coming on this, as Ukrainian press alongside European press is broadening their reporting.

[Allegra]

" 'We end up with a situation where decision-making is concentrated in the President's Office,' said Saakian. 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was only a matter of time before someone in the inner circle started enriching themselves or tried to play their own game'."

And the Bidens, Pelosi, Romney, Lindsey Graham and other assorted scum were more than happy to do their part.

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

ZELENSKYY stated in his EVENING ADDRESS on 10 November

QUOTE: “Any effective action against corruption is very much needed. The inevitability of punishment is essential. Energoatom currently provides Ukraine with the largest share of power generation. Integrity within the company is a priority.

The energy sector and every branch, everyone who has constructed corrupt schemes, must face a clear procedural response. THERE MUST BE CONVICTIONS. And GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS MUST WORK TOGETHER WITH NABU and law enforcement bodies – and DO IT IN A WAY THAT DELIVERS REAL RESULTS.”

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

---- "And the Bidens, Pelosi, Romney, Lindsey Graham and other assorted scum were more than happy to do their part."

So many names. I'd posted some to another thread in response to another comment: " 'Who wants to be the last man to die for George Soros, Davos and MI6?' And Galushchenko, Mindich, Halushchenko, Myroniuk, the Zukerman brothers, Chernyshov, Hrinchuk, Koval and, alongside many more names, Volodymyr Zelenskyy who seems either 1) at the heart of the corruption, or 2) a complete fool, blind to all his closest 'friends' and business associates?"

I erred in not adding "the Bidens, Pelosi, Romney, Lindsey Graham and other assorted scum." And Ben Hodges who endorsed Biden, and Liz Cheney who endorsed Harris, and our 'favorite' Ukrainian-American, Vindman, who was at the heart of the first impeachment trial of President Trump.

One should not forget these from only a little over a year ago:

Trump vs Ukraine's president: 'Zelensky is greatest salesman, wants Democrats to win' YNET, 24 September 2024.

Ukraine President Zelensky Campaigns for Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania Conservative Treehouse, 23 September 2024.

Trump says Ukraine's Zelensky wants Democrats to win U.S. presidential election Reuters via Globe and Mail, 24 September 2024.

Zelensky Attacks Trump and Vance to U.S. Media, Tours Ammo Plant in PA at Taxpayers’ Expense Breitbart, 23 September 2024.

Zelensky Trashes Trump and Vance, Signs Artillery Shells in PA Legal Insurrection, 23 September 2024.

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

VIDEO SHORTS Former U.S. Abassador to Russia on Russian-Ukraine Conflict Houston Public Media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX0HXdHmuQ0

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PW14ivaMrgg

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

More updates:

"The investigation has prompted questions about what the country's highest officials knew of the scheme. It has also awakened memories of Zelenskyy's attempt last summer to curtail Ukraine's anti-corruption watchdogs. He backtracked after widespread street protests in Ukraine and pressure from the EU to address entrenched corruption."

Source: EU renews demand that Ukraine crack down on corruption in wake of major energy scandal CBC Canada, 13 November 2025

"...critics increasingly accusing Zelensky of overstepping his powers — using martial law and wartime conditions not just for national defence, but to sideline political rivals.

"The backlash intensified after masked, heavily armed agents from Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) raided the Kharkiv home of prominent anti-corruption activist Vitaliy Shabunin last Friday, confiscating phones, laptops, and tablets.

"SBI investigators and armed personnel also searched the Kyiv residence of former infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, seizing his mobile phone and other electronic devices. Officials said that both operations were part of ongoing corruption inquiries."

Source: Why Zelensky is under fire over 'corrupt authoritarianism' iNews, UK, 19 July 2025.

VIDEO - "MEPs slammed the deepening corruption scandal in Ukraine as EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended her controversial “reparations loan” plan in Brussels. The debate erupted after shocking findings in Kyiv’s anti-corruption probe — including a gilded toilet and millions in U.S. cash — led to key ministerial resignations. With billions already sent to Ukraine, critics say Brussels risks losing credibility and investor confidence. As Zelensky’s inner circle faces investigations, Europe's unity — and its strategy for funding Kyiv — is being tested like never before."

Source: ON CAM: Zelensky SHAMED OPENLY In EU Parliament; Ursula Watches In Shock | Ukraine Graft Scandal Ondre Dostál, MEP from Slovakia speaking at the EU Parliament, an other MEPs, via Times of India, 13 November 2025.

More later.

[Allegra]

Wow. This doesn’t look good for the Zelensky regime at all.

Ukraine desperately needs a regime change, but are there any honest people who can lead?

No wonder so many slimy American politicians have been so chummy with Saint Z.

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

Amazing, the guys at the U.S. Navy base called President Zelenskyy the ‘little Trump’ from the beginning tackling the of Putin embedded deep state.

But, now he has to face the betrayal of friends.

[Sunsong]

“Here, the battle for the town has slowly become a lethal war of shadows with almost no chance of survival. The Russian army is disintegrating under the weight of its own losses, and its push to capture Pokrovsk turns into a slow-motion collapse of morale and unit-level desertions.”

May it be

May it be so!