Zelenskys

Nov. 28 (UPI) — Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s chief of staff, resigned Friday after a raid on his home in a sweeping corruption scandal.

Yermak had led Ukraine‘s negotiating team in peace talks with the President Donald Trump administration. He was the most powerful political figure in Ukraine behind Zelensky.

“This is the perfect storm. There is a lot of uncertainty right now,” a Ukrainian official told Axios.

He was scheduled to travel to Miami on Saturday for talks with Trump’s team, but that meeting has been canceled.

On Friday, Hungarian President Viktor Orban met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in defiance of the rest of the European Union members. Orban said his visit was an attempt to secure Russian energy supplies for the winter for Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia.

Zelensky announced Yermak’s resignation and said he will appoint a new chief of staff soon.

No charges have been filed as of this writing.

“Russia really wants Ukraine to make mistakes. There will be no mistakes on our side,” Zelensky said in a video on X. “We do not have the right to ease the pressure. We do not have the right to retreat or to quarrel among ourselves. If we lose our unity, we risk losing everything.”

Investigators from Ukraine’s National Anti-corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office did the searches Thursday morning targeting Yermak, the Kyiv Post reported.

In a Telegram post, Yermak confirmed the searches.

“Today, NABU and SAPO are indeed conducting procedural actions at my home. There are no obstacles for the investigators,” he said.

Yermak said investigators were given full access to his apartment.

“My lawyers are on site, interacting with law enforcement officers. From my side, I am providing full assistance,” he added.

While officials have not confirmed why the searches were conducted, reporter Christopher Miller of the Financial Times said that his sources confirmed it was part of Operation Midas, an investigation into large-scale bribery in the energy sector in Ukraine.

NABU also confirmed the searches.

“NABU and SAPO are conducting investigative actions (searches) at the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. The investigative actions are authorized and are being carried out within the framework of the investigation. Details to follow,” the agency said on Telegram.

Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk resigned Nov. 12 after investigators uncovered that officials at the state nuclear energy company Energoatom had manipulated contracts to generate bribes and laundered about $100 million.

On Nov. 13, Zelensky sanctioned his former business partner Timur Mindich over his role in the scandal.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies have begun searching the apartment of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak.

One of the two agencies, anti-corruption bureau Nabu, confirmed that its investigative searches had been authorised and said further details would follow.

A corruption scandal has engulfed several figures close to Zelensky, though neither he nor his right-hand man Yermak have been accused of any wrongdoing.

Yermak has played a crucial role in Ukraine’s response to Russia’s full-scale war, and he is Kyiv’s lead negotiator in peace talks with the US. However, his position has become increasingly under threat from critics calling for him to go.

Yermak, 54, confirmed on social media that both Nabu and the specialised anti-corruption prosecutor’s office (Sapo) were “conducting procedural actions at my home” and had full access to his apartment, with his lawyers on site.

“From my side, there is full co-operation.”

The searches come at a very awkward moment for Zelensky and his chief of staff, with US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll due to arrive in Kyiv by the end of this week as US President Donald Trump pushes ahead with a draft peace plan. US officials are heading to Moscow next week.

One of the main sticking points for Ukraine is Russia’s demand for Ukraine to hand over the territory it still controls in the eastern Donetsk region. “If they don’t withdraw, we’ll achieve this by force of arms,” Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

Yermak underlined his leading role in the negotiations when he told The Atlantic website hours before news of the searches emerged that “as long as Zelensky is president, no-one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory”.

However, Putin has been emboldened by minor territorial gains by Russian forces, claiming their offensive “is practically impossible to hold back”. Meanwhile, Zelensky’s own position has been weakened by the domestic corruption scandal, and Russia’s president has long questioned his legitimacy as leader.

In his interview late on Thursday, Yermak acknowledged that pressure on him to stand down was “enormous… The case is fairly loud, and there needs to be an objective and independent investigation without political influence”.

The corruption scandal has rocked Ukraine this month, with investigators linking several leading public figures to an alleged $100m (£75m) embezzlement scandal in the energy sector.

The two anti-corruption agencies, Nabu and Sapo, said they had uncovered an extensive scheme to take kickbacks and influence state-owned companies including state nuclear energy firm Enerhoatom.

A number of suspects have already been charged in the scandal that has outraged public opinion because of allegations that money was diverted from key infrastructure projects vital for safeguarding Ukrainian power supplies.

Russian attacks have badly damaged Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and Ukrainians across the country have had to cope with only a few hours of electricity a day.

Zelensky has already fired two ministers and several suspects have been detained in the scandal. One of the president’s former business associates, Timur Mindich, has fled the country.

He was co-owner of the TV studio where Zelensky’s acting career took off before he was elected president.