Timur Mindich: from personal ties with Kolomoisky to NABU investigations in the energy sector
30 July 15:35
The name of Timur Mindich has been appearing in the media more and more often lately in connection with the possible serving of suspicion by the NABU and the SAPO. Journalists report that his figure is already acquiring the status of a potential “piggybacker” for President Zelensky. Therefore, the "Komersant Ukrainian" editorial team has collected all available facts and details about Mindich to find out who he is and what role he plays in the current political and business processes.
Timur Mindich, who is involved in the NABU case on embezzlement of public funds, is currently in Austria. This information emerged amid active discussion in political circles – MPs and activists believe that the likely announcement of suspicion to Mindich could be the impetus for attempts to limit the independence and powers of the SAPO and NABU.
His stay in Austria was reported by Censor.NET’s sources.
The last mentions of Mindich in the media date back to the end of June. According to ZN.UA’s sources, he went to Austria to meet with Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov and convince him to return to Ukraine.
Almost a relative and confidant of Kolomoisky
Mindich first came to the attention of journalists in April 2018, thanks to an investigation by Mykhailo Tkach about the life of Ihor Kolomoisky in Switzerland. The story was about Kolomoisky’s contacts with people close to then-President Petro Poroshenko, such as Borys Lozhkin and Yuriy Lutsenko. One of the fragments concerned the oligarch’s birthday celebration, which the journalists identified by the photos of the guests. Among them was Tymur Mindich, Kolomoisky’s business partner and co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio.
In 2018-2019, journalists repeatedly recorded Mindich’s trips to Kolomoisky’s house in Israel. In those years, he was already considered an informal communicator between the oligarch and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had not yet become president.
In May of the same year, Kolomoisky returned to Ukraine from Israel together with MP Andriy Shipko and Timur Mindich. He has also been spotted near Kolomoisky’s office on several occasions, including in the company of another businessman associated with Privat, Mykhailo Kiperman.
Kolomoisky: business partner and potential relative
In an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda, Ihor Kolomoisky named Timur Mindich as his partner in development. It was he who, according to the oligarch, introduced him to Volodymyr Zelenskyy back in 2008-2009. Kolomoisky also mentioned that Mindich could have become his son-in-law someday.
According to Censor.NET’s sources, the marriage between Timur Mindich and members of his entourage was allegedly dissolved because the future son-in-law abused references to the name of his future father-in-law, Ihor Kolomoisky. According to the source, “the marriage was canceled, but the business partnership remained.” According to the source, sometimes Kolomoisky could even publicly humiliate Mindic by sending him to the kitchen for something during a conversation.
The wife is the daughter of the fashion director of the Moscow Central Department Store
on August 12, 2019, it became known who Timur Mindich’s wife is. At the same time, it was reported that Alla Verber, the famous fashion director of the Moscow Central Department Store, had died.
The Nezygar Telegram channel revealed that Alla Verber’s daughter, Ekaterina, is married to Ukrainian businessman Timur Mindich, co-owner of Green Family Ltd (Cyprus). Interestingly, until January 2019, the current President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy was among the co-owners of this company.
Kateryna Verber is the owner of the Dolce & Gabbana boutique in Kyiv. Her Instagram has much more photos related to her business and mother than her husband. Among the few photos with Mindich, most are from the back.
There is even more interesting information about her family: Kateryna’s grandfather, Abram Fleischer, was the head of a department at the House of Leningrad Trade. During the Soviet era, he collected antiques and when he left the USSR, he took out several tons of property-a privilege hardly available to ordinary people.
The Nezyhar Telegram channel also suggested that Verber might have been a certain contact with the Kremlin – at least in the context of Ihor Kolomoisky’s business interests.
A celebration for President Zelenskyy
In 2021, Mindich was again in the spotlight for the president’s birthday party, which took place in his apartment. At that time, the COVID-19 lockdown had just ended, but on January 29, more than 30 guests gathered at the apartment of the co-owner of Kvartal 95. This party was reported by journalist Mykhailo Tkach in his investigation.
At the time, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the party was a surprise for him – he was at home when he was invited to Mindich, where his friends were waiting for him. Among the guests, in addition to the Kvartal actors, were Andriy Yermak, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, and Oleksiy Chernyshov.
Mindich’s close ties with the Presidential Office were confirmed not only by regular visits but also by his participation in private events. For example, he was among those invited to the 50th birthday of the head of the OP, Andriy Yermak, which was celebrated at the government residence in Huta.
In August 2021, despite the official policy of de-oligarchization, journalists noticed that First Assistant to the President Serhiy Shefir co-founded Next Line Production. The newly created company was supposed to produce films and work together with the minister, as well as the screenwriter and producer of Kvartal, Andriy Yakovlev. At the same time, the media recalled Mindich’s business ties to Kolomoisky.
From a “debtor” to an influential figure in the energy sector
In February 2022, just a week before the full-scale invasion, Ihor Kolomoisky in an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda described Timur Mindic differently – not as a business partner, but as a “debtor.” At the same time, he mentioned that Mindich is his son’s sandak, a title in Judaism similar to a godfather.
When asked whether Mindich was acting as an intermediary between Kolomoisky and the president, the oligarch replied sharply:
“He is so focused on his own interests that he doesn’t care about the interests of anybody else.”
Amber, television and strategic energy
In January 2022, the media reported on a vote in the Volyn Regional Council to reorganize Volynpryrodresurs into a joint-stock company. This enterprise owns the largest amber and copper deposits in Ukraine. It was expected that a private investor would be able to enter the new structure.
Immediately afterwards, Izumrud Plant LLC, owned by Timur Mindich, claimed its rights. The company demanded a debt of UAH 62 million from the utility. As of now, according to YouControl, the situation around this debt remains uncertain.
Another source of income is media. At the end of 2021, it became known that the private company Kinokit received UAH 9 million from the parliamentary TV channel Rada to develop new formats and concepts. It was at the time of signing this major deal that the company’s owners changed: Yulia Drozdova, who had previously worked as a lawyer at the British company Meylor Global LLP, an entity associated with Mindich, became the new owner.
Since the end of 2022, Mindich has been appearing in the media again, this time as a shadowy player in the energy sector. He is credited with influencing processes at such strategic enterprises as Energoatom and Naftogaz.
In particular, the appointment of Oleksiy Chernyshov, the former Minister of Community Development, to the position of Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine was linked to Mindich. And a few months later, journalists started talking about Mindich’s unofficial back office, which, according to rumors, began to form within Naftogaz.
In the first years of Zelenskyy’s presidency, the first assistant to the head of state, Serhiy Shefir, was in charge of energy issues in the Presidential Office. His role was mainly to coordinate interests between the key players in the industry – Rinat Akhmetov and Ihor Kolomoisky. However, with the loss of Shefir’s influence and credibility, these functions were gradually transferred to Timur Mindich.
Within a year, gas market representatives began to say that corrupt practices of the Yanukovych era were being revived in the energy sector. However, apart from general statements, no concrete facts appeared in the public space at that time.
Moreover, some of Censor.NET’s interlocutors, when asked about Mindich’s influence, denied any knowledge of his role. At the same time, other sources claimed that Mindich “supervised” the then Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko. According to them, this went as far as direct interference in the ministry’s work processes, to the point where Mindich allegedly determined which tasks were to be completed and in what time frame.
NABU cases: energy and family ties
In August 2024, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office announced suspicion to the former head of Kharkivoblenergo, Kostiantyn Logvynenko, and four other defendants. The investigation established that in 2021, while serving as acting CEO, Logvinenko, together with close equipment suppliers, organized a procurement scheme at inflated prices.
In April-September 2021, the company’s management ensured that two “right” companies won tenders. They supplied almost 12,000 units of transformer equipment and more than 79,000 electrical measuring devices at artificially inflated prices, resulting in losses of UAH 132.5 million. In some cases, the price of certain components was increased fivefold.
In June 2025, Leonid Mindich, Timur Mindich’s cousin, was arrested in connection with this case. He was detained while trying to flee abroad.
A dubious deal for 300 million and Mindich’s new connections
A few weeks after the news of Leonid Mindich’s detention, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak published another high-profile story concerning the activities of the state-owned Energoatom company.
According to him, in April 2024, Energoatom-Trading, a subsidiary of Energoatom, signed a contract with a little-known private company, Svitlo Group M, to supply a large amount of electricity. However, the company systematically failed to pay for the products received, which, according to the MP, led to losses for Energoatom in the amount of almost UAH 300 million.
“Nobody in the energy market has heard of this company, and its management has ties not to the industry but to the Judo Federation of Kharkiv Region,” Zheleznyak emphasized.
In addition, according to ZN.UA, the state-ownedcompany also allowed Svitlo Group M to receive UAH 40 million in VAT refunds from the budget, despite its existing debts to Energoatom.
The MP named Jakob Hartmut, Vice President of Energoatom, as the main person responsible for this scheme. He also drew attention to an interesting coincidence: the office of a London offshore company associated with Hartmut is located in the same building where Timur Mindich’s business is registered.
At the same time, Bihus.Info journalists published an investigation into possible abuses during the construction of fortifications. One of the episodes concerned the Zhytomyr region, where the Navitechservice company – previously involved in the reconstruction of Kyiv region – became a contractor for the construction of fortifications.
However, the actual work was outsourced to a laying company, Reiskvik, which had neither the experience nor the appropriate material base. Some of the budget funds that passed through this company were transferred through a network of other structures, and some disappeared from the financial reports altogether. According to journalists, it is impossible to trace the full path of the money in the documents.
Both companies involved in the investigation, Navitechservice and Global, have indirect ties to Timur Mindich’s entourage. In the case of Global, it is Anton Samoilenko, who shares an office with the company previously headed by Mindich himself. And in the case of Navitechservice, the trail leads to the company’s co-owner, whose sister runs the company Eventus Management. The latter has also been linked to Mindich in the past.
NABU wiretapping and Mindich’s disappearance
on June 20, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported that Timur Mindich had left Ukraine. A few days later, the media reported that Mindich had allegedly gone to see Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshev to convince him to return to the country.
Last week, after the adoption of Law 12414, which effectively eliminated the independence of the NABU and the SAPO, journalists repeatedly wrote that Mindich might soon be served with a notice of suspicion.
When asked directly about this, NABU Director Semen Kryvonos neither confirmed nor denied the information, emphasizing that official suspicions are announced only after the investigation is completed.
According to Ukrayinska Pravda’ s sources from the business community, NABU and SAPO investigators managed to document Mindich in an apartment at the same address where President Zelenskyy’s birthday was celebrated five years ago.
The interlocutors suggest that the president himself may be on the recordings, but there are no official comments from law enforcement on the content of these conversations, so it is unknown whether they relate to corruption crimes.
If the case is indeed brought to the point of serving Mindich with a notice of suspicion, it could be a serious blow to President Zelenskyy’s reputation throughout his time in power.
