BREAKING Investigators raid the Ukrainian presidency / Target: Zelensky's chief of staff / The corruption case that shook Ukraine

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) confirmed the raids on Friday morning and assured that it would provide details soon. The Ukrainian site Kyiv Independent writes that the investigation concerns the corruption case at the public company Energoatom, which involved another close associate of the president.

Ukraine's anti-corruption authorities raided the office of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Iermak on Friday morning, officials said Friday.

“Investigative actions are authorized and carried out as part of the investigation. Details will follow,” Ukraine's special anti-corruption prosecutor's office said on the Telegram messaging app.

Iermak confirmed the searches and assured that he is fully cooperating with the investigators.

The publication Ukrainska Pravda was the first to report this information. “UP journalists managed to film about 10 NABU and SAPO officers entering the government quarter,” Ukrainska Pravda wrote.

‼️ Searches being conducted at office of Zelenskyy's top aide Yermakhttps://t.co/NJMqjD0shu

— Ukrainska Pravda in English (@pravda_eng) November 28, 2025

Following the article, deputy Iaroslav Jelezniak, a member of the Holos party, asked people to be ready to defend anti-corruption institutions.

“NABU and SAPO are conducting searches at Andrii Iermak this morning. Prepare to defend NABU/SAPO if necessary,” Jelezniak wrote.

Iermak, the Kyiv Independent writes, is being investigated by NABU in a corruption case involving the state nuclear energy monopoly Energoatom, the biggest corruption case under Zelenskiy's presidency.

Eight suspects have been charged in the Energoatom case, and Timur Mindici, a close associate of the president, is the alleged leader of the group.

The biggest internal crisis

Mindici, NABU said, was the leader of a group that received bribes and illegal kickbacks from contractors of the state energy company in exchange for maintaining their status as suppliers and not blocking their products and services. According to the bureau, $100 million was laundered this way.

Domestic and international media have written that the corruption scandal is showing signs of turning into Ukraine's biggest domestic crisis since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.

The investigation that caused this scandal is an achievement of the country's anti-corruption institutions, the very ones that the president wanted to leave without independence in the summer. The details that emerged later were shocking.

Law enforcement officials found a gold toilet in an apartment belonging to Timur Mindici, a former business partner and close associate of the president. Mindici is accused of being one of the leaders of the criminal scheme that evaded public money.

He fled the country just hours before prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU) arrived at his home, suggesting he may have been warned.

Part of the stolen money was allegedly transferred to Moscow. Other money was used to build four luxury villas near Kiev, apparently intended for Oleksii Chernyshov, a former deputy prime minister, as well as other unnamed officials.

At one point, the transcripts show one of the accused complaining of back pain from carrying heavy bags of money to Kiev.

A battle between the accused and the anti-corruption agencies

Members of the accused group do not appear to have realized until July that they were being recorded.

When they found out, they started threatening NABU prosecutors. They tracked them down and obtained their home addresses and even managed to gain access to secret surveillance footage (normally only provided to law enforcement officials) to monitor the detectives' activities.

A cat and mouse race ensued, with detectives resorting to creative methods to evade surveillance and collect evidence.

Around the same time, the president's office began to put pressure on anti-corruption bodies.

On July 21, several detectives involved in the investigation were detained by the security services. The next day, MPs from the president's party hastily passed a bill removing the operational independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies – a measure that was overturned after massive public protests.

Prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to press charges against Oleksandr Kimenko, head of SAPO, Ukraine's anti-corruption prosecutor's office. Klimenko states that the investigation continued only because the presidential office failed to achieve its goal.

“If they hadn't repealed the law, we simply wouldn't have been able to complete it,” he said.

Crisis threatens Ukraine's war effort

The government has promised a full audit of state-owned companies. However, many say the administration needs deeper reform.

One of those targeted, The Economist wrote, could even be Andrii Iermak, the president's chief of staff, who has alienated friends and foes alike by monopolizing power and access to the president.

The proximity of Zelenskiy's allies to the scandal could be enough to jeopardize his political future. A Ukrainian intelligence officer described the incident as “a blow of atomic bomb proportions”.

The scandal threatens Ukraine's fight against Russia in two ways.

Domestically, it risks encouraging cynicism and causing more soldiers to defect. The front lines are already under assault.

Abroad, the scandal is making it harder to claim the aid Ukraine needs to keep going, estimated at about $100 billion a year.

Some will use the corruption revelations not as proof that the country has independent anti-corruption bodies, but as an argument to reduce support.

Several European ambassadors have already expressed concern about the political fallout.