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Court orders Ukraine’s former enegry minister held in custody with UAH 200M bail option

17 February 2026 22:40 (UTC +04:00)

Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has ordered former Energy Minister German Galushchenko to be held in custody with the alternative of posting UAH 200 million bail.

The ruling was announced by investigating judge Viktor Nohachevskyi, APA reports citing Ukrinform.

"To apply a preventive measure in the form of detention to the suspect German Borysovych Galushchenko, born on May 1, 1973, for a period of 60 days from the date of his actual detention, that is, until April 15, 2026 inclusive. To set bail for the suspect German Borysovych Galushchenko, born on May 1, 1973, in the amount of UAH 200 million," the judge said.

If bail is posted, the court obliges Galushchenko to appear before detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine upon first request, not leave Kyiv or the Kyiv region without permission, refrain from communicating with other suspects in the case, surrender his foreign travel passports, and wear an electronic monitoring device.

During the hearing, prosecutor Ivan Diachuk of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office requested detention with an alternative bail of UAH 425.984 million and mandatory electronic monitoring. According to the prosecutor, Galushchenko faces 7 to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The prosecution argued that the risk of absconding was supported by the fact that during martial law Galushchenko left Ukraine 58 times.

Galushchenko, in turn, stated in court that his detention was unlawful and claimed he was held without proper legal grounds and in violation of human rights. He said that the court had partially confirmed the illegality of his detention the day before. Together with his lawyers, he is preparing further legal steps.

"If I had wanted to flee, believe me, I would have fled," the former minister said.

He stated that at the time of his detention on February 15, he was heading to Warsaw and did not intend to leave Ukraine permanently. Investigators, however, cited the trip as one of the grounds for holding him in custody.