For years, Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, was regarded as one of the most powerful figures in Ukraine. He tightly controlled access to the president, with officials and advisers often alleging that Zelensky was isolated from dissenting views. Meetings held without Yermak’s presence reportedly carried a retaliation risk, and many in Kyiv described him as a man who rarely forgot a slight.
Then came the fall. Last November, anti-corruption agents raided Yermak’s apartment, and Zelensky dismissed him as head of the presidential office shortly thereafter. Last week, Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ordered Yermak’s pretrial detention on money laundering charges, culminating in what many see as the most consequential corruption case in the country’s recent history.
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The investigation, led by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, grew out of Operation “Midas,” a broader investigation tied to Timur Mindich, a former associate of Zelensky. Prosecutors allege that Yermak and several others laundered nearly $10.5 million through the construction of the luxury “Dynasty” residential complex in Kozyn, an affluent village outside Kyiv.
According to investigators, the scheme relied on shell companies, cash transactions, and falsified financial records to move money through the project. Prosecutors suspect that part of the funds may have originated from a much larger kickback and embezzlement scheme tied to the state-owned energy company Energoatom, involving as much as $100 million.
NABU also released audio recordings in which a man identified by investigators as Yermak discusses furnishing one of the cottages in the development. Prosecutors say the property was intended for Yermak himself, while then-Minister for Communities and Territories Development Oleksiy Chernyshov allegedly oversaw the construction process. Investigators also allege that Chernyshov’s wife held a stake in the development company involved in the project. Yermak has denied wrongdoing.
Still, Yermak’s arrest is the closest that anti-corruption officials have come to the president’s inner circle. If Ukraine’s leadership allows the case to proceed, it will send a powerful signal to others that no one is above the law. That message will carry heavy weight in a country where, for decades, proximity to power functioned as a form of legal immunity for corruption. Even during war.
It’s been a hard road to get here.
Anti-corruption bodies were created in 2015 to fight high-level corruption following the Euromaidan revolution. Yet, in the summer of 2025, Yermak and Zelensky supported legislation to place both agencies under the politically appointed prosecutor general. This sparked the first major anti-government street protests since the full-scale invasion began. Zelensky later reversed course under domestic and international pressure.
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The Yermak arrest presents Zelensky with one of the more consequential dilemmas of his presidency. A former confidant facing serious criminal charges is a reputational liability for any leader, and the proximity of the alleged wrongdoing to the presidential office will intensify scrutiny of how power operates inside Zelensky’s wartime administration.
Yet, the case simultaneously offers the president an opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to transforming the country into a functioning Western democracy. If he does not use that opportunity, it may cost him and Ukraine a great deal.
