KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian anti-corruption agency said Tuesday it has detained five people and identified seven other suspects in a major graft investigation that is centering on alleged kickbacks worth some $100 million in the country’s energy sector.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau did not name the suspects in its statement but said they included a businessman believed to be the scheme’s mastermind; a former advisor to the country’s energy minister; and an executive of national atomic energy company Energoatom.
The statement came a day after the agency revealed some details of a 15-month investigation into suspected energy sector corruption, including at Energoatom.
Large amounts of Ukrainian and foreign funds have flowed into the energy sector as infrastructure is repeatedly repaired following relentless Russian aerial attacks. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said Tuesday that Russia attacked energy infrastructure in the Kharkiv, Odesa and Donetsk regions overnight and that scheduled power outages were in place in most regions of Ukraine.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau is tasked with rooting out entrenched corruption, which is widely regarded as an impediment to Kyiv’s efforts to obtain membership in the European Union. It targets high-level corruption, particularly cases involving senior officials and state-owned enterprises.
It has previously reported uncovering a major graft scheme involving inflated military procurement contracts and the embezzlement of millions of dollars’ worth of funds earmarked to buy mortar shells for Ukraine’s efforts to foil Russia’s all-out invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the latest probe. “Any effective action against corruption is an urgent need,” he said in his Monday night address to the nation.
He urged government officials to cooperate with investigators.
Zelenskyy has also faced public disapproval over the issue of graft. He quickly reversed course last month on a law that would have curbed the independence of the country’s anti-corruption watchdogs after widespread street protests. EU officials also pressed him to change his mind.
The anti-graft investigators allege that Energoatom’s suppliers were forced to pay bribes, amounting to between 10% and 15% of a contract’s value, to keep providing services and goods to the company.
They also suspect that several high-ranking officials used their connections to “maintain control over personnel decisions, procurement processes and the flow of financial resources” to run the kickback scheme.
Energoatom, a state-owned enterprise which generates more than a half of Ukraine’s energy supply, said in a statement that the probe has not disrupted production or operational safety.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s general staff claimed Tuesday its forces struck two Russian oil refineries and an oil terminal as part of its long-range drone campaign to deny Moscow vital revenue for its war effort.
Ukrainian forces hit Russia’s Saratov oil refinery overnight for the fifth time in recent months, starting what it called a “massive fire,” the general staff said. Another target was the Orsknefteorgsintez refinery, which produces over 30 types of petroleum products and supplies the Russian military, it said.
Ukrainian forces also attacked an oil terminal in the port of Feodosia, in Russian-occupied Crimea. The terminal is used to supply fuel and lubricants to the occupied peninsula and parts of southern Ukraine.
In Moscow, Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, claimed Tuesday that it had thwarted a Ukrainian intelligence plot to recruit Russian pilots and hijack a MiG-31 fighter jet carrying a hypersonic Kinzhal missile.
The FSB routinely claims to have thwarted plots against Russia, usually without providing any evidence. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
FILE - A worker walks in front of a transformer which was destroyed after a recent Russian missile attack at DTEK's power plant in Ukraine, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, file)
In this photo taken on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defence press service, soldiers practice military skills on a training ground near Kupiansk in Kharkiv region, Ukraine. (Anatolii Lysianskyi/Ukraine's 127th Separate Brigade via AP)
In this photo taken on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defence press service, soldiers practice military skills on a training ground near Kupiansk in Kharkiv region, Ukraine. (Anatolii Lysianskyi/Ukraine's 127th Separate Brigade via AP)
ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”
Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.
"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.
“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
