Volodymyr Zelensky’s top aide searched by anti-graft investigators
Anti-corruption authorities have confirmed they are carrying out searches targeting one of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s most powerful allies.
Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities said Friday they were carrying out searches targeting President Volodymyr Zelensky’s powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, raids that come as a massive corruption scandal embroils Kyiv.
Investigators earlier this month said they had uncovered a $100-million kickback scheme in the strategic energy sector, triggering widespread public anger at a time when Russia is hammering the country’s power grid, causing blackouts and threatening heating outages throughout winter.
The National Anti-Corruption Agency (NABU) and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) “are conducting investigative actions (searches) at the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. The investigative actions are sanctioned and are being carried out as part of an investigation,” NABU said in a statement.
It did not say what the searches were in connection with.
Yermak is Zelensky’s most important ally, but a divisive figure in Kyiv, where his opponents say he has accumulated power, gate-keeps access to the president and ruthlessly sidelines critical voices.
Zelensky has put him in charge of negotiations with the United States to rework a 28-point plan proposed by President Donald Trump to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, which Kyiv viewed as heavily favouring Moscow.
Yermak said Friday he was co-operating with the investigation. “There are no obstacles for the investigators. They have been given full access to the apartment, and my lawyers are present on-site, co-operating with the law enforcement officers. From my side, there is full co-operation,” he said on social media.
A former film producer and copyright lawyer, Yermak came into politics with Zelensky in 2019, previously working with him during the now-president’s time as a popular comedian.
Yermak is widely considered the second-most influential man in the country and even sometimes nicknamed “vice-president”.
“Yermak doesn’t allow anyone to get to Zelensky except loyal people,” a former senior official who worked with Zelensky and Yermak told AFP, describing him as “super paranoid”.
“He definitely tries to influence almost every decision,” they added.
Opposition figures have alleged Yermak is connected to the massive corruption scandal that has engulfed Kyiv.
Zelensky sacked two ministers over the scandal, and one of his close friends and business associates, Timur Mindich, was accused of masterminding the scheme.
Speaking after the raid on Yermak was announced, the European Union backed the work of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies.
“We have a lot of respect for those investigations which show that the anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine are doing their work,” said European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho.
Calls to resign
Yermak has faced calls to resign amid the scandal.
But in a show of confidence in his top aide - and a sign of how important he is to Zelensky - the president named him Kyiv’s top negotiator with the United States over the plan to end the war.
Opposition MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak said Yermak was mentioned in wiretap recordings released by the anti-corruption agencies into the energy scandal, reportedly referred as “Ali Baba”.
A senior source in Zelensky’s party said Yermak’s influence over the president was akin to “hypnosis”.
Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told AFP the searches could undermine Kyiv’s position in talks with the United States.
“It will undoubtedly significantly weaken Ukraine’s position in the negotiation process,” he said.
“The optimal option would be his temporary removal,” Fesenko added.
In a March 2025 poll by the Razumkov Centre, an NGO, two-thirds of Ukrainians said they did not trust Yermak.
But he has been a stalwart by Zelensky’s side throughout the war.
The two men are seen together on official photos of almost all presidential events. According to media reports, their beds stand side by side in the presidential office’s underground bunker, and in their free time, they play table tennis, watch movies or work out.
Originally published as Volodymyr Zelensky’s top aide searched by anti-graft investigators
