“Returning to Ukraine is unsafe due to the war” – NABU: Mindich and Zuckerman may avoid extradition from Israel for this “reason”

Ukrainian businessmen Timur Mindich and Alexander Zuckerman, who are involved in the corruption case “Midas,” may attempt to avoid trial by staying outside Ukraine. Both are hiding in Israel and, according to the investigation, are using the war as an argument in their defense in foreign courts.

This was stated by the head of the NABU detective unit Alexander Abakumov in an interview with RBC-Ukraine on December 17, 2025, commenting on the prospects of extradition and a possible trial.

“It’s dangerous here” as a line of defense

According to Abakumov, such a strategy has already become typical.

Individuals who are hiding from Ukrainian justice abroad claim in courts of other countries that returning to Ukraine is allegedly unsafe due to the war. This argument is used as an attempt to block extradition or delay the process for years.

The same logic, he noted, is applied in the case of Mindich and Zuckerman.

Extradition is not off the agenda

Answering the question of whether extradition of these businessmen or consideration of the case in Israeli jurisdiction is possible, Abakumov emphasized:
all available legal mechanisms are currently being worked out.

This involves not only extradition as such but also other forms of international legal cooperation that prevent the subjects from escaping responsibility.

There is also positive experience

NABU emphasizes: the argument about the war is not universal. Ukraine already has positive experience of cooperation with other countries on the extradition of individuals suspected of corruption crimes — even in conditions of full-scale conflict.

Each such case requires separate legal work, evidence, and dialogue with the judicial authorities of the country of residence.

The main difficulty — Israeli citizenship

The key complicating factor in this case, Abakumov calls the fact that Mindich and Zuckerman are citizens of Israel and are hiding there.

This automatically raises the threshold for extradition and makes the process more complex from a legal point of view. Israeli legislation and judicial practice in such cases require especially thorough argumentation and evidence base.

At the same time, NABU emphasizes a principled position:
it is important not where the subjects are located, but that they do not escape responsibility, wherever they may physically be.

A test for international justice

The case of Mindich and Zuckerman becomes an indicator of how anti-corruption mechanisms work in conditions of war and cross-border investigations. Using the war as a procedural argument is a sensitive issue for foreign courts, including Israeli ones.

Ukraine, in turn, demonstrates that it intends to bring such cases to an end and use every available legal tool, as consistently reported by NANews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency.