Explainer: How Ukraine’s biggest corruption scheme persisted despite all odds

Ukraine's largest corruption scandal in years came to light last year with a wave of arrests, sanctions, and a political shakeup. New revelations over the past few weeks suggest that produced little result.

Last November, Ukraine's anti-corruption authorities' Operation Midas uncovered a $100 million money-laundering and bribery scheme that implicated high-ranking officials and associates close to President Volodymyr Zelensky, largely through state-owned energy company Energoatom.

Last year's scandal was supposed to be a reckoning. But what looked like the dismantling of a powerful network may have been only its exposure.

Photo: Screenshot / Ukrainska Pravda; Yan Dobronosov / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images; Viktor Kovalchuk / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images; Collage: The Kyiv Independent