Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, voted on Wednesday to dismiss Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk from their posts due to their alleged involvement in a corruption case.
Lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said 323 lawmakers voted to dismiss Halushchenko, while 315 voted to dismiss Hrynchuk.
Halushchenko and Hrynchuk were implicated in a $100 million kickback scheme involving the state-owned nuclear agency, with the two submitting their resignations on Nov. 12.
Halushchenko became justice minister in the 2025 cabinet reshuffle, having previously served as energy minister – a role that his aide Hyrnchuk took over.
The two’s dismissal was listed on the parliament’s agenda a day earlier, on Tuesday, according to Honcharenko, but he said at the time that most lawmakers did not attend.
The official replacements for Halushchenko and Hrynchuk have not been chosen.
Honcharenko, citing Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, said more decisions will be made at an upcoming meeting.
“We are moving into a consultation mode regarding the current situation. Therefore, we will provide additional information about the next meeting,” Stefanchuk was quoted as saying.
Following the energy scandal, the opposition parties have also demanded that the entire cabinet resign, in addition to Halushchenko and Hrynchuk.
Unsubstantiated reports also suggest that Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff of the Presidential Office, might be fired or forced to resign on Thursday amid public pressure.
Wartime Energy Scandal
The scandal originated from investigations by Ukraine’s anti-graft agencies that implicated multiple high-ranking, serving officials.
The investigation centered on surveillance tapes of Timur Mindich, a former business associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Mindich was said to have been coercing multiple officials into corrupt dealings.
Zelensky’s top aide Yermak was alleged to be “Ali Baba” heard in the recordings, with the nickname supposedly assigned due to his initials (Andriy Borysovych Yermak), though no concrete link has been established.
The case’s profile is heightened by Moscow’s renewed strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid.
Mindich, allegedly a key figure in the scheme, fled the country shortly before the investigation was made public. Zelensky, who is not implicated in the case, imposed sanctions on Mindich and another businessman.