Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers have resigned amid a major embezzlement and kickbacks scandal involving the state nuclear power company.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the removal of Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk on Wednesday, with the pair later submitting their resignations.

The damaging scandal – fast becoming one of the most significant government crises since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion – has put top officials under scrutiny.

It could not come at a worse time for Ukraine, as Russia’s renewed attacks on energy infrastructure cause rolling blackouts and Kyiv’s outnumbered forces retreat under relentless assaults.

At the centre of the scandal, Mr Halushchenko and other well-known ministers and officials are alleged to have gained payments from constructing fortifications against Moscow’s assaults on energy infrastructure. Former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov is also alleged to have been involved.

Mr Halushchenko said he would defend himself legally, while Mr Grynchuk posted on social media: “Within the scope of my professional activities there were no violations of the law.”

The findings of a 15-month investigation, including 1,000 hours of wiretaps, were revealed by the same anti-corruption watchdogs Mr Zelenskyy sought to weaken earlier this year.

These resulted in the detention of five people, and another seven linked to about $100m (£76m) in alleged kickbacks in the energy sector.

Ukrainian officials are scrambling for European funds to manage mounting energy shortages as Moscow targets critical infrastructure and natural gas production in an attempt to damage public morale.

The nation has been plagued by corruption since gaining independence, and Mr Zelenskyy was elected on a mandate to eliminate graft.

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Military procurement scandals also led to the ousting of Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov in 2023.

Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker with Zelenskyy’s party, said the scandal looks “really bad in the eyes of our European and American partners”.

He said: “Internally this scandal will be used to undermine unity and stability within the country. Externally, our enemies will use it as an argument to stop aid to Ukraine.

“While Russians destroy our power grid and people have to endure blackouts, someone at the top was stealing money during the war.”

But questions remain over how high the alleged corruption goes.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau, known as NABU, refrained from identifying the suspects.

But it said they included a businessman, a former adviser to the energy minister, an executive who oversaw physical protection at state energy company Energoatem, and others responsible for money laundering. It dubbed the scheme “Midas”.

The agency also accused eight people of abuse of office, bribery, and possession of disproportionate assets.

The investigation, which NABU said conducted over 70 raids, was welcomed by the Ukrainian president, who urged officials to cooperate with it. Energoatom said the inquiry didn’t disrupt its operations.

NABU released excerpts of tapes in which the network, using code names and secretive language, discussed blackmail and pressuring Energoatom contractors to extract 10% to 15% in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for them to do business without facing internal blocks.

The network took advantage of a regulation enforced during martial law prohibiting contractors from claiming debts in court from companies providing essential services, such as Energoatom, which has annual revenues of around $4.7 billion (£3.6 billion). Four others worked to launder the money at a Kyiv office.

The tapes, which have not been independently verified, say about $1.2 million was handed to a former deputy prime minister, whom the plotters called “Che Guevara,” after the Argentinian revolutionary leader.

Ms Svyrydenko also said the cabinet submitted proposals to apply sanctions against Timur Mindich, a close associate of Zelenskyy, and businessman Alexander Tsukerman.

Newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein include one in which the late paedophile financier describes how Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor did have his photo taken with victim Virginia Giuffre.

The former duke, who was recently stripped of his titles, has previously said he didn’t recall meeting Ms Giuffre and claimed an image of the pair could have been doctored.

Ms Giuffre, who took her own life earlier this year, claimed in her recently released autobiography that – as a teenager – she had sex with Andrew on three occasions after being trafficked by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Andrew has always strongly denied the claims.

Trump latest: 20,000 pages from Epstein files released

The details have emerged after thousands of files from the Jeffrey Epstein estate were released by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee.

The email that discusses the photograph was one of those released and features an exchange with a journalist in 2011.

A picture emerged in 2011 of Andrew, which has become infamous, showing the former prince with his arm around Virginia Giuffre, apparently taken in Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home.

Although the name of the “girl” is redacted, Epstein appears in his email exchange to be referring to Ms Giuffre, who at the time had spoken to The Mail on Sunday, which had published the photo and her account of encountering Andrew while travelling with Epstein. After cutting ties with Epstein, she moved to Australia. She also changed her surname from Roberts to Giuffre.

An email from Epstein to the journalist read: “The girl has fled the country with an outstanding arrest warrant. The da (sic) after she accused others, said in writing that she has no credibility, she was never 15 years old working for me, her story made it seem like she first worked for trump at that age and was met by ghislaine maxwell.

“Total horseshit, the daily mail paid her money, they admitted it, with the statement that it took money to coax out the truth.

“Yes she was on my plane, and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew, as many of my employees have.

“I have never misled you, this girl is a total liar, they (sic) authorities should check her australian immigration form… I will ask if they will cooperate – Prince people.”

In a different email exchange in March 2011 about an inquiry from a news reporter, Epstein messages someone listed as “The Duke”, which is thought to be Andrew.

Epstein told him: “Im not sure how to respond, the only person she didn’t have sex with was Elvis.”

It prompted the following response: “Please make sure that every statement or legal letter states clearly that I am NOT involved and that I knew and know NOTHING about any of these allegations.

“I can’t take any more of this my end.”

It is not clear if Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, was writing about Ms Giuffre.

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Epstein: ‘She is a fraud’

In a separate email to a publicist in July 2011, Epstein writes: “The girl who accused Prince Andrew can also easily be proven to be a liar.

“I think Buckingham Palace would love it. You should task someone to investigate the girl Virginia Roberts, that has caused the Queen’s son all this agro (sic).

“I promise you she is a fraud. You and I will be able to go to ascot (sic) for the rest of our lives.”

Speaking to Newsnight in 2019, Andrew said: “I have absolutely no memory of that photograph ever being taken… you can’t prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not…

“That’s me but whether that’s my hand or whether that’s the position I… but I don’t… I have simply no recollection of the photograph ever being taken.”

Burlingame, California-based Peak Energy just scored a huge win for sodium-ion batteries. The company announced a multi-year deal with utility-scale battery storage developer Jupiter Power to supply up to 4.75 GWh of sodium-ion battery systems between 2027 and 2030.

Under the agreement, Peak will deliver 720 MWh of storage in 2027 – the largest single sodium-ion battery deployment announced so far. The deal also includes an option for an additional 4 GWh of capacity through 2030, bringing the total contract value to more than $500 million.

Sodium-ion vs. lithium-ion

Peak Energy says its sodium-ion batteries degrade less over time and have lower operations and maintenance costs than lithium-ion systems. Because the batteries don’t degrade as quickly, operators don’t need to add more capacity later in a project’s life to maintain performance. They also use a fully passive cooling system that eliminates pumps, fans, and other components used in lithium-ion setups, reducing maintenance and safety risks.

The company claims its grid-scale sodium-ion system uses up to 97% less auxiliary power, offers about 30% better cell degradation performance over 20 years, and comes with a lower total cost of ownership.

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Why this deal matters

The agreement marks a significant step forward for the emerging sodium-ion sector, which has been gaining momentum as a safer and lower-cost alternative to lithium-ion for long-duration and grid-scale energy storage. It also underscores the growing effort to build a domestic sodium-ion battery supply chain in the US.

“From day one, we’ve believed sodium-ion will be the winning technology for grid-scale storage, which is essential to meet rising demand from hyperscalers and AI,” said Landon Mossburg, Peak Energy’s CEO and cofounder. “Deploying the world’s largest sodium-ion energy storage system with one of the nation’s top independent power producers proves that sodium is ready for today and will dominate the future.”

Mike Geier, CTO at Jupiter Power, said the company is “excited to support domestic battery energy storage manufacturing as we continue to increase the deployment of firm, dispatchable energy when and where it’s most needed,” and called Peak’s approach to sodium-ion “a potential game changer for the industry.”

Read more: The US’s first grid-scale sodium-ion battery is now online

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