The large-scale corruption scandal that erupted following NABU raids on government officials and former business partners of President Volodymyr Zelensky has already led to the first personnel consequences. Ukraine's Minister of Justice, Herman Galushchenko, who had led the Ministry of Energy for many years, and the newly appointed Minister of Energy, Svitlana Hrynchuk, announced their resignations. The government has suspended the activities of the supervisory board of the company "Energoatom" and promised an audit of all other state companies.

However, this is just the beginning of the crisis — especially since its main figure, businessman and co-owner of the "Kvartal 95" studio, Tymur Mindich, managed to leave Ukraine in an elite taxi just a few hours before the raids and the announcement of suspicion. His former partner in this studio, President Volodymyr Zelensky, urgently imposed sanctions against him.

Many compare this scandal to previous corruption stories in Ukraine, but, in my opinion, it demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of how the situation has changed over the years of the great war. If in "pre-war" times corruption could be perceived as theft from taxpayers' pockets, today what is happening is already looting. After all, when the enemy tries daily to destroy Ukrainian energy, and a corrupt official simultaneously "earns" on its protection, what else can you call it? Such a thief effectively deprives his compatriots of the opportunity to survive in a brutal war.

Of course, this undermines trust — both of Ukrainian citizens and our international allies. Citizens see how President Volodymyr Zelensky, who came to power on slogans of fighting corruption and accusations against predecessors for "profiting from the war," finds himself at the center of a scandal involving his closest circle. The main figure is a person in whose apartment the president celebrated his birthday. And the fact that individuals without positions and powers gave orders to ministers and influenced personnel decisions in the government is a disgrace to the whole country.

For politicians from countries supporting Ukraine, it will now also become much harder to explain to their voters what their taxes, directed to aid Ukraine, are being spent on. After all, people like Mindich are also robbing these people — and destroying their society's faith in the righteousness of Ukraine and its ability to withstand. Those who have been calling for years for the West to stop supporting and convincing that the war continues only because the Ukrainian leadership benefits from embezzling Western funds immediately take advantage of this. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban did not wait long with corresponding statements…

At the same time, it is important not only that abuses occurred but also that they were exposed. This proves that the anti-corruption system created after the Revolution of Dignity of 2013–2014 works. And this is one of the main achievements of the post-Maidan government and our Western partners. However, to ensure that these obvious achievements are not destroyed by successors, recent protests by Ukrainians against attempts to subordinate NABU and SAP to the presidential vertical were necessary. As well as the clear position of Western allies. Signs of the society's maturation and its readiness to take responsibility are evident.

The Ukrainian government should draw serious conclusions from this dirty story and understand: the total monopolization of power, which began after the 2019 elections, only creates conditions for the emergence of a state corrupted by anonymous fraudsters.

When Volodymyr Zelensky became president, he stated that he could trust no one except close friends. This is quite logical for a person who has never been interested in real politics and state management and could not imagine how to trust people with experience who are capable of assessing processes more deeply — after all, each of them could easily deceive a newcomer and make him an accomplice in a corruption scheme.

But even close friends let the president down and dragged him into a scandal that is just beginning and whose consequences could be staggering. Now Volodymyr Zelensky faces a very difficult choice: either learn to trust professionals with impeccable reputations and delegate powers to them, or follow the path of dictatorship and further narrow the circle of trusted individuals.

Only — to paraphrase the famous phrase of General Valerii Zaluzhnyi — it is unlikely that a small post-Soviet dictatorship can win a great war. For victory, Ukrainians need unity, openness, and efficiency.