The claim is posted linked with a Yahoo News article. Yahoo News is an aggregator, so it is not an original reporting outlet, it only republished reports from other organizations. Because this is a secondary source, the claim will be verified through original reporting and official statements.
To verify the claim, I looked at independent, reputable news organizations that conducted the original reporting. Services such as Reuters and Associated Press reported on the Energoatom corruption investigation. These sources are trusted because they gave direct statements from Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities.
Going through the Yahoo News link I found hyperlinks to AP and traced the allegations to statements from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. They announced a large corruption probe that involved alleged kickbacks and embezzlement at Energoatom which totalled out to around 100 million. These reports identified Timur Mindich as a suspect and noted that he was a former business associate of President Zelensky before he entered politics.
It is indeed true that Timur Mindich and President Zelenskyy were business partners, and the core claim–Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities are investigating a major Energoatom corruption scheme involving Timur Mindich–is supported by original reporting based on official sources. However, the claim that Mindich expanded his influence under Zelenskyy’s presidency due to that relationship is not supported by the original evidence.
AP News with direct statements: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-corruption-scandal-6e33b63b8071f46140956d4d23ab00de
