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Operation Midas: the arrest at Ukraine's border
Summary
A look back at the detention of a former energy minister in a corruption inquiry into the energy sector.
What happened at the Ukrainian border in the days around 16 February 2026? The question centres on German Galushchenko, a former energy minister, whose arrest was reported on 15 February 2026 as part of Operation Midas.
According to reports at the time, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested him at the state border. He was accused of involvement in a kickback scheme in the energy sector, put at ₴4 billion, or about US$100 million. Other reports described the arrest as happening while he was trying to leave Ukraine by train, amid the corruption accusations against him.
What Operation Midas is
Operation Midas is an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. It was launched in 2024 and concerns large-scale bribery in Ukraine's energy sector, committed during the Russo-Ukrainian war.
The evidence-gathering phase lasted 15 months. Investigators carried out more than 70 searches, seized 4 million US dollars and obtained about 1,000 hours of audio recordings of the suspects' conversations. Those figures come from a later description of the inquiry.
Why the arrest stood out
The reports described a former minister detained at the frontier, with the suspected kickback scheme placed in the energy sector. The arrest brought a long-running investigation into public view through one named figure, and it was reported on 15 February 2026, the day before the date this retrospective covers.
