Denis Shmigal may take over the Ukrainian Energy Ministry, which was hit by a massive corruption scandal late last year

Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky has nominated Defense Minister Denis Shmigal to head up the Energy Ministry. Shmigal's current post has been offered to a close ally of the Ukrainian leader amid a major government reshuffle prompted by a series of high-profile corruption scandals.

The top position at the Ukrainian Energy Ministry has been vacant since November, when it was implicated in a major embezzlement scandal centered around the state nuclear operator Energoatom. The nation's anti-graft bodies revealed at the time that longtime Zelensky associate Timur Mindich was running a $100 million kickback scheme in the energy sector, which heavily depends on Western aid.

The probe led to the resignations of Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk, as well as the Ukrainian leader's chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, and other top officials.

Ukraine's energy sector was hit by another scandal in late December, when prosecutors exposed a criminal scheme that involved siphoning off electricity worth millions of dollars from state-owned energy giant Ukrenergo.

Earlier, the New York Times reported that Zelensky's government had sabotaged oversight in state firms, including Ukrenergo, allowing hundreds of millions of dollars to be embezzled through long-running corruption schemes.

Shmigal had spent less than six months at the helm of the Defense Ministry. He was appointed last July after having served as prime minister since early 2020. Last week, Zelensky praised Shmigal for "solid results" he achieved while leading the Defense Ministry. The Ukrainian leader then proposed Mikhail Fedorov, 34, as his replacement. Fedorov has served as first deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation, overseeing a digital government services portal.

The proposed appointment is the latest in a wave of personnel changes that followed the resignation of Yermak and other top officials in late November. Earlier, Zelensky also appointed Kirill Budanov, head of Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR), as his new chief of staff. Budanov is wanted in Russia on terrorism charges for his role in orchestrating attacks on civilian infrastructure.

(RT.com)