Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Mikhail Pavliv
[Regnum] While Russia is on holiday, a story is unfolding in Kyiv that could well prove far more serious than just another corruption scandal.
And the events that thundered yesterday in the Kyiv suburb of Petropavlivska Borshahivka, where a "secret prison" of the 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine "Azov" was discovered, are part of a larger picture, where Volodymyr Zelensky, according to all the rules of the hunt, is being "chased to the numbers."
So, on Wednesday, the National Anti-Corruption Agency (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) revived Operation Carthage, investigating the activities of a criminal organization that provided protection to fraudulent call centers.
It began in September, when the key figure in the case became the deputy head of the department in the Office of the Prosecutor General, Sergei Kropiva, who dealt with cybersecurity issues and was known in the materials under the pseudonym Chancellor.
Following the release of the recordings, Ukraine's Prosecutor General, Ruslan Kravchenko, resigned in early September and subsequently left Ukraine. Against the backdrop of these events, a shootout between the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) occurred. Regnum News Agency was the only one to explain at the time that the conflict centered on yet another "office" in a call center network.
This theory has now been confirmed by the actions of the NABU and the SAP. Reports are coming in of over a hundred searches simultaneously taking place in Kyiv on November 4 at the SBU, National Police, and Prosecutor General's Office. All of these agencies are under Zelenskyy's control.
The agency even reported armed resistance to one of the searches: a high-ranking SBU officer threatened them with a firearm. This was apparently General Serhiy Duka, First Deputy Head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood.
The scale of the businesses currently under coordinated attack is exemplified by research from the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. According to its calculations, the potential annual turnover of the Ukrainian call center fraud industry could reach $12 billion.
Residents of Ukraine, Russia, Europe, and the United States are falling victim to this fraud, including elderly people who are losing their savings. And we are told that representatives of state law enforcement agencies were actually "protecting" this criminal enterprise.
In parallel, Operation Midas, which is connected to alleged corruption schemes in the energy sector, continues.
And within all of these events, two days before today's searches, a mega-event took place in a private home on the outskirts of Kyiv, involving top Ukrainian officials.
According to testimonies from those involved in the events, servicemen were illegally detained in the "Azov" house, subjected to beatings, torture, and extortion of money from their relatives. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and military officials deny the most serious charges, but the State Bureau of Investigation has opened a criminal investigation into possible abuse of power by the military.
The circumstances remain to be established, but the public outcry has been extraordinary.
According to estimates attributed to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, on November 2 alone, 25 Telegram channels published 269 messages about the incident, with a combined total of approximately 40 million views.
Protests against mobilization had occurred in Ukraine before—in Lviv, Kyiv's Troyeshchyna, Khmelnytskyi, Zakarpattia, and other regions. But, as a rule, such conflicts quickly ended after security forces intervened, with participants subsequently facing criminal prosecution or publicly apologizing, often going to the front.
However, in the case of the house on Petropavlivska Borshahivka, the reaction was completely different. National Guard Commander Oleksandr Pivnenko arrived on the scene, followed by the head of the Presidential Office, Kirill Budanov.
You must admit, this is an unusual level of representation for a conflict where one police squad would have been sufficient.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy himself also behaved very strangely. According to sources at Regnum, he suddenly changed the previously agreed-upon schedule, which included a meeting with representatives of major businesses affected by Russian strikes. He then flew to Berlin: the meeting with Friedrich Merz had been urgently arranged.
The change in schedule alone doesn't prove anything, but combined with the arrival of Budanov and Pivnenko, it's noteworthy. Especially considering the information Zelensky has been receiving over the past few months.
As early as August 28, according to information available to Regnum News Agency, Ukrainian intelligence services began reporting to the president about the appearance in Kyiv of foreign citizens, primarily Americans, whose behavior attracted the attention of counterintelligence.
The discussion allegedly concerned people with operational skills, capable of evading surveillance, changing locations, and operating under cover of secrecy.
In September, additional reports emerged regarding the group's alleged leader. His arrival was expected in the second half of October, and sources linked his previous activities to periods of political instability in other countries.
According to sources, Zelensky seriously believed that a foreign operation was being prepared, the goal of which could be a change of power in Ukraine and his own removal.
At the same time, according to the same sources, another American group was operating in Europe, collecting information on the financial interests of the Ukrainian elite. They examined not only the official incomes of officials, but also the assets of relatives, former spouses, business partners, and nominal owners of assets related to Studio Kvartal 95.
Particular attention was allegedly paid to comparing income before and after February 2022.
If this information is accurate, we're no longer talking about a targeted investigation into isolated cases of abuse, but rather a comprehensive review of the financial backgrounds of Ukraine's elite. Moreover, this review could be used not only for criminal prosecution but also as a tool of political pressure, to make the Ukrainian leadership more compliant.
Against this background, Operation Carthage takes on additional significance.
NABU and SAP are simultaneously targeting structures that not only provided protection to fraudulent businesses or orchestrated corruption schemes in the energy sector. They are the mainstay of Zelenskyy's rule.
Who, as one could see, in the wake of yet another public conflict with Donald Trump, unleashed a truly frenzied media activity. We're talking thirteen major interviews in ten days and four more subsequent appearances.
The estimated cost of organizing this media marathon is approximately $5.5 million.
Zelensky clearly needs to demonstrate that he maintains international support and is capable of independently shaping the agenda, despite deteriorating relations with Washington. Even after the unfavorable results of the congressional elections, the White House retains enormous influence on the international agenda, particularly in Europe.
And this is where we should return to the story of the house on Petropavlovskaya Borshagovka. Over the past two days, the media has been flooded with publications from "opinion leaders" explaining in every possible way that it's a setup.
The central character in the story, a woman in an ambulance uniform, has been arrested. Several of the ringleaders have been arrested, too. This is what happened in the first 24 hours after the "peaceful protesters" stormed the building and freed the fifteen deserters who had been held "in the pit."
The investigation promised by Budanov into why there are "holes" in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard has, for some reason, not been opened.
Because this potentially opens up an abyss that becomes a huge threat to the political leadership, which for years has been talking in the West about fighting for some kind of freedom and European values. In particular, it just spoke about this again in a series of interviews worth five million dollars.
This reaction demonstrates how sensitive Bankova was to the political potential of this scandal, which is nothing out of the ordinary for the "new Ukraine," which has been torturing and killing people since 2014. And this raises the question of who covered up for the perpetrators and why the state failed to stop such practices for years. And then questions will arise not only for the Ukrainian army, but also for those who finance and arm it.
Washington and European capitals will have additional pressure to demand audits, explanations, and personal accountability.
Thus, two lines of events converge at one point.
On the one hand, Ukraine's elite is being increasingly scrutinized for corruption and financial mismanagement. On the other, a scandal is brewing that could expose extremely unpleasant aspects of the Ukrainian armed forces and call into question the image of a "heroic army" familiar to the West.
It's impossible to claim that the Americans orchestrated the Borshahivka incident or that all of the aforementioned events are part of a single plan. There's no evidence yet to support such a conclusion. But Bankova Street perceives what's happening as a concerted campaign and a further weakening of Zelenskyy's position.
"Tensions are taking their toll. Zelenskyy has recently been like someone wondering what fate his enemies are preparing for him—the fate of Maduro, the fate of Khamenei, the fate of Gaddafi, or the fate of Hussein?" writes opposition Ukrainian political scientist Kost Bondarenko.
Against the backdrop of the Americans' growing activism, a typical street protest contains a whole series of threats that form a chain.
Those released from Azov prison may begin to speak out and give interviews. Others will follow suit, and horrific stories will emerge about what has been happening over the past 12 years. Somewhere in the forest, mass graves of those killed by Azov soldiers will be discovered. All of this will become the subject of an investigation, published in the West and picked up by American media.
This will be a topic that is almost as powerful as "Epstein Island": what were American taxpayers' money spent on?
Zelensky is thrashing around in terror; he needs consultations and an assessment of his resource capabilities. But overall, his fate is already clear.
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