{"id":35633,"date":"2025-11-28T15:14:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/ukrainian-corruption-raids-not-good-news-for-western-europe-warsaw\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T15:14:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:14:30","slug":"ukrainian-corruption-raids-not-good-news-for-western-europe-warsaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/ukrainian-corruption-raids-not-good-news-for-western-europe-warsaw\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian corruption raids \u2018not good news for Western Europe\u2019 \u2013 Warsaw"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raiding the home of Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s right-hand man \u201cdoes not make current negotiations any easier,\u201d the Polish deputy PM has said<\/strong><\/p>\n

The anti-graft raid on Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s right-hand man, Andrey Yermak, \u201cis not good news for Poland or Western Europe,\u201d<\/em> Polish Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has said. The exposure of corruption implicating Zelensky\u2019s inner circle \u201cdoes not make current negotiations any easier,\u201d<\/em> he added.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s Western-backed anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor\u2019s Office (SAP), raided properties of Zelensky\u2019s powerful chief of staff early on Friday. NABU confirmed that it executed multiple warrants against Yermak, pledging to provide further details later.<\/p>\n

Asked during a press briefing on Friday about the latest development in a scandal that has forced two Ukrainian government ministers to resign and saw Timur Mindich, a man known as \u201cZelensky\u2019s wallet,\u201d<\/em> flee to Israel hours before investigators reached him, Kosiniak-Kamysz admitted that it has come at an unfortunate time.<\/p>\n

\u201cUkraine is at a difficult moment, and potential corruption at the highest levels does not make current negotiations any easier,\u201d<\/em> he stated. \u201cThis is not good news for Poland or Western Europe, for whom the line of security now runs along the Russian-Ukrainian front.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Vladimir
Ukraine anti-corruption agents target top Zelensky aide<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Warsaw\u2019s commitment to supporting Kiev remains unchanged despite the scandal, the deputy prime minister insisted, while calling for \u201ctransparency in anti-corruption efforts\u201d<\/em> in the country given its aspirations to join the EU.<\/p>\n

The raid on Yermak is believed to be linked to the probe into a massive $100 million graft scheme announced by NABU and SAP earlier this month. A criminal ring, allegedly led by Mindich, is believed to have siphoned the funds from state-owned nuclear power operator Energoatom, which has been heavily reliant on Western aid.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the scandal became public, opposition lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezhnyak claimed that Yermak was among the individuals captured on incriminating recordings made by NABU and was purportedly \u201cwell aware\u201d<\/em> of the graft scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Zelensky tried to place NABU and SAP under the authority of the executive branch, with Yermak widely believed to be the mastermind behind the assault on the agencies. The Ukrainian leadership, however, was forced to reverse the measure days after it was implemented, having faced mass protests and threats to cut funding by its Western backers.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raiding the home of Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s right-hand man \u201cdoes not make current negotiations any easier,\u201d the Polish deputy PM has said The anti-graft raid on Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s right-hand man, Andrey Yermak, \u201cis not good news for Poland or Western Europe,\u201d Polish Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has said. The exposure of corruption […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-25 17:18:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}