Anti-corruption raid targets Zelenskyy’s chief of staff

Kyiv: Anti-corruption units have raided the home and reportedly also the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, in an unwelcome distraction for Kyiv officials as they battle to defeat Russia’s invasion and persuade US officials to accommodate their concerns in peace proposals.

Two national agencies fighting entrenched corruption in Ukraine said their searches targeted Yermak.

Yermak, a powerful figure in Ukraine and a key participant in talks with the United States, confirmed they searched his apartment inside the presidential compound in downtown Kyiv, where checkpoints limit public access. Media reports said Yermak’s office was also searched, but investigators declined to comment on that.

It was not clear where Zelenskyy was at the time of the morning raid.

“The investigators are facing no obstacles,” Yermak wrote on the messaging app Telegram. He added that he was cooperating fully with them and his lawyers were present.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office are Ukrainian anti-corruption watchdogs. They are behind a major investigation into a USD 100 million energy sector corruption scandal involving top Ukrainian officials.

Investigators suspect that Tymur Mindich, a one-time business partner of Zelenskyy, was the plot’s mastermind. Mindich has fled the country, with any

criminal proceedings against him likely to be carried out in absentia. Two top government ministers have resigned in the scandal.