Ukraine – one more high level official being investigated
Over the past weekend, the Ukrainian energy corruption investigation which has come to light approximately two weeks ago, heated up even more. There has been significant reporting by most major news outlets and last Friday, Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, was fired by President Zelenskyy, as the anti-corruption agencies search Mr. Yermak’s offices and home. Politico EU has reported on this, noting that Mr. Yermak had a very important and comprehensive role within the Zelenskyy government, “[t]he probe has mushroomed into the most damaging domestic scandal of Zelenskyy’s time in charge, and comes amid relentless Russian bombing and pressure from the U.S. on Kyiv to agree to a potentially unfavorable peace deal with the Kremlin.” The timing could not have been worse, as Mr. Yermak had been the lead negotiator for the Ukrainian government in their ongoing peace negotiations, which also have been moving forward during the same time. Mr. Yermak has reacted that he will be vindicated as he is not guilty, and he has also said that he would go to the frontline and fight for Ukraine.
Why should we care and what does this mean? During this time, from when the anti-corruption agencies started to raid and investigate the very senior Ukrainian government officials in this the newest and largest corruption scandal, there has been much discussion of how this has been extremely damaging to Mr. Zelenskyy’s presidency. Yet, what has also happened is the willingness on the part of the President Zelenskyy, to recognize the validity and importance of these investigations by the agencies he had attempted to weaken over the summer, even if such investigations come within his offices. All of these investigations will take time, and we must all wait to see if the transparency we have seen will continue, and if the judicial system, specifically the anti-corruption courts, will do their jobs. Additionally, the EU is also looking at this, and if the corruption investigations become actionable cases, this will provide Ukraine and the EU to look more closely at the systems that exist, which have allowed for such corruption, and to see what lessons learned have come from this. This may seem to be very disturbing, but we must not let the negative influences have the final word. We must remember that rooting out corruption during this horrific period in Ukrainian history, is a monumental task, and Ukraine is moving in the right direction.
Link:
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2025/12/ukraines-corruption-democracy-accountability/685120/
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-yermak-corruption-3a58193bcb3f7816a715dee9e60e4541
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/28/world/andriy-yermak-ukraine-corruption-raid-intl