Ukraine was forced to retreat from near five villages in Zaporizhzhia region, the Ukrainian military says. Ukraine’s anti-graft agencies uncover a major corruption scheme in the energy sector. Ukraine strikes hit an oil refinery in Saratov and a naval oil terminal in Crimea.
Ukraine forced to retreat from near five villages in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian military says
Ukrainian troops had to retreat from near five villages and towns in Zaporzhzhia region to save the lives of military personnel in the face of intensifying Russian attacks, Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces said in a statement Tuesday.
“In Zaporizhzhia region, intense battles are raging for several days in a row in the Oleksandrivske and Hulyaipole directions. The enemy is using all available types of weapons to push the Armed Forces of Ukraine out of the positions they hold. [Ukrainian troops] recorded up to a hundred combat engagements here in the past several days,” the statement reads.
The Ukrainian military had to retreat from the positions near Novouspenivske, Nove, Okhotchyne, Uspenivka and Novomykolayivka to save the lives of personnel after Russia had intensified assault operations, infiltration attempts and attacks on Ukrainian positions, Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces said. They also explained that Russia carries out more than 400 artillery attacks with the use of 2,000 munitions daily. All shelters and fortifications in the area have been destroyed.
“The enemy is trying to bring its units to these towns and villages to consolidate positions, but Ukrainian defense forces are making all efforts to counter their attempts to do so,” the message reads.
Fierce fighting is raging for the villages of Yablukove, Rivnopillya and Solodke.
Russian forces are trying to envelop Hulyaipole from the eastern flank and cut off the supply lines to the city from Pokrovske, Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces said. “The battles continue. [Ukraine’s] assault units and other types of forces are fiercely fighting for each centimeter of our land,” it added.
Russia has seized Katerynivka in Donetsk region and Novomykolayivka in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian open-source mapping project DeepState said on Tuesday. Russian forces have advanced near Oleksandrovo-Kalynove and Promin in Donetsk region, and near Solodke, Nove and Yablukove in Zaporizhzhia region, it added.
Ukraine’s anti-graft agencies uncover major corruption scheme in energy sector
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said Tuesday they had uncovered a criminal organization and a major corruption scheme in which contractors of the state-owned nuclear energy company had been forced to pay kickbacks.
NABU said its detectives had detained five people and charged seven members of the criminal organization, including a former adviser to the minister of energy, the executive director for physical protection and security at Energoatom, four members of a team responsible for money laundering, and a businessman whom they accused of leading the illicit enterprise.
“NABU and SAPO have exposed a criminal organization comprising current and former officials, a well-known businessman, and other individuals. Its members established a large-scale corruption scheme to influence strategic state-owned enterprises, particularly the [state nuclear energy operator] Energoatom,” NABU said in a statement Tuesday.
“In accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the detectives have detained five individuals and charged seven members of the organization,” it said.
The main goal of the scheme they co-organized, according to NABU, was to obtain illegal benefits amounting to 10-15 percent of a state contract value from counterparts of Energoatom.
In particular, Energoatom’s contractors were forced to pay kickbacks to avoid having payments for their services or products blocked or losing their supplier status. The practice was called an “entrance barrier” (shlahbaum).
“The function of legalizing illegally obtained funds was entrusted to a separate office of the criminal organization located in the center of Kyiv,” NABU said, adding “In total, approximately USD 100 million passed through the so-called ‘laundry’ as its activities were documented.”
The office received a percentage of the amounts processed for providing services to non-members of the criminal organization.
NABU said its 15-month investigation and 1,000 hours of wiretapping involving the bureau’s entire staff culminated Monday in 70 raids in Kyiv and elsewhere. “NABU and SAPO are assessing the actions of all participants in these materials,” the statement reads.
According to Ukrainian news outlet Economichna Pravda, the illegal scheme was organized by Tymur Mindich, a businessman, co-owner of the Kvartal-95 television studio and President Zelenskyi’s former business partner who left Ukraine several hours before NABU began searches in the case. Mindich goes by the nickname “Karlsson” in NABU’s investigation papers.
The “money laundering” office was run by a man nicknamed “Sugarman.” The man in question is likely Mykhaylo or Oleksandr Tsukerman.
NABU also searched [the home or office of] former energy minister Herman Halushchenko who goes by the nickname “Professor” or “Hera” on the tapes. Economichna Pravda said, citing unnamed sources, that Halushchenko maintains influence on the country’s energy sector through the current energy minister Svitlana Hrynchuk and the agency’s employees whom he appointed shortly before resigning in July 2025.
Ukraine strikes hit oil refinery in Saratov, naval oil terminal in Crimea
The Ukrainian military conducted overnight strikes on an oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region, a naval oil terminal in Feodosiya, in Crimea, and a number of sites in occupied Donetsk region.
Ukraine struck the Saratov oil refinery in Russia overnight into Tuesday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement. “A series of explosions were recorded and a massive fire sparked around the target. The results of the strikes are being assessed,” it said.
The General Staff also said the refinery processes crude oil into more than 20 types of petroleum products, including gasoline, fuel oil, diesel fuel, vacuum gas oil, technical sulfur and more. The facility is involved in supplying the Russian army, it added.
Ukraine’s General Staff also reported a strike on a naval oil terminal in Feodosiya, in Crimea, which is a key hub for the supply of fuel and lubricants by sea to the Crimean Peninsula and the occupied territories of southern Ukraine.
“[The strikes] hit oil tanks on the site. The extent of damage is being assessed,” the message reads.
In occupied Donetsk region, Ukraine’s defense forces struck a Russian military warehouse in Donetsk and a troop concentration near Ocheretyne, the Ukrainian General Staff said.
“[Ukrainian] attack drones have reached their targets. The results [of the strike] are being clarified,” it said.
