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In Berlin and Brussels frustration is growing because of corruption schemes in the close circle of the Ukrainian president that have been exposed by NABU investigations.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are increasingly voicing disappointment with the slow pace of anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine. The latest investigations into President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle are alarming Western partners, reports the German publication Berliner Zeitung.
The head of the European Commission noted that Kyiv has created the necessary anti-corruption bodies, but they need to be "brought to life." Chancellor Merz, after a phone call with Zelensky, clearly emphasized the German government's "expectation of vigorous advancement in the fight against corruption and reforms in the rule of law." Analysts at the International Crisis Group, an international think tank studying global conflicts, also point to growing frustration in EU countries over Kyiv’s slow reform progress in their latest report.
The Yermak Case
Western doubts about the determination of the anti-corruption campaign intensified 18 May this year, when former head of the presidential office Andriy Yermak, who for years remained the president’s right-hand man, was released from pretrial detention on bail equivalent to 2,7 million euros. The funds for Yermak’s bail were provided by his friends, including members of supervisory boards of state energy enterprises. Soon after, Zelensky proposed Yermak’s protégé — CEO of NJSC Naftogaz Serhiy Koretsky — for the post of prime minister, and the parliament, controlled by the presidential administration, supported this candidacy without objection.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine suspects Yermak of laundering around 10,5 million euros from "black cash" through a large real estate project called "Dynasty." The project envisaged the construction of four luxury villas outside Kyiv for a friend named "Vova." Currently investigators cannot carry out investigative actions regarding the president himself because he has official immunity.
In the summer of 2025 the year, Zelensky signed a bill that Yermak had prepared and pushed through parliament to limit NABU’s powers, but mass public protests and pressure from European partners forced the authorities to revoke that decision. Commenting on the second set of possible personnel changes in the government that year, the publication Ukrayinska Pravda called the Ukrainian authorities a "corruption train," where a new minister usually sits in the "luxury corruption carriage" and orders an espresso. Meanwhile, the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in a comment on 13 May, noted that "the chief scourge of Ukrainian politics — corruption in the upper echelons — persists even after Russia’s full-scale invasion."
Schemes in the Defense Sector
Despite difficulties, NABU detectives are trying to uncover schemes for embezzling state funds through defense enterprises. Recently investigators questioned the head of the defense company Fire Point, Denys Shtilyerman, which has rapidly developed with state funds and supplies the army with long-range "Flamingo" missiles.
According to NABU wiretaps, actual control over Fire Point is exercised by Timur Mindich — a longtime business partner of Zelensky and a close friend of Yermak. However, it is currently impossible to hold him accountable: in November 2025 he left for Israel.
Western partners of Kyiv are now concerned about which portion of the billions of euros in aid may have been siphoned off into corrupt schemes.
Recall that 11 May the former head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak was suspected by NABU in connection with the elite estates in the "Dynasty" cooperative, for the construction of which more than 460 million hryvnias were legalized through corruption schemes in Energoatom. According to media reports, one of the four houses belonged to him, while the other residences were owned by former Vice Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, the president’s close friend and business partner Timur Mindich, and a person referred to as "Vova" on the recordings. Later, anti-corruption officials assured that President Volodymyr Zelensky is not a subject of the investigation.
The High Anti-Corruption Court decided to remand Yermak with the right to bail in the amount of 140 million hryvnias. A few days later the former head of the Presidential Office was released from pretrial detention. According to media reports, seven companies and seven individuals paid Yermak’s bail. Since Yermak was released from custody, he has a number of procedural obligations. Why the bail episode became a moment of truth for Zelensky’s system of power was explained by Inna Vedernikova in the article "Cash at the Exit: How Raising Bail for Yermak Revealed the Essence of Zelensky’s System."
At the same time, according to media reports, Andriy Yermak continues to influence political processes in the country. For example, after Mykhailo Fedorov’s dismissal from the Ministry of Defense he met with then-Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also coordinated with Yermak the recent appointment of Rustem Umerov, who appears on "Mindich’s tapes," as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service.
"Argument"
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "«Корупційне болото Києва» - Європа втрачає терпіння через схеми в Україні". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: argumentua.com.
