President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a “Coalition of the Willing” hosted by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer (unseen) on Oct. 24, 2025 in London, England.(Henry Nicholls – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
During his presidential campaign, Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted two key failings of then-President Petro Poroshenko: corruption and nepotism.
Six years into his own presidency, Zelensky has found himself on the receiving end of the exact same criticism, drowning in a corruption scandal.
These days, Ukraine is being rocked by the largest corruption scandal of Zelensky’s term. At its center is a close associate of Zelensky — Timur Mindich, his former business partner, co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio. He was a ringleader of a group that received bribes and kickbacks from state-owned energy company’s contractors in exchange for keeping their status as suppliers and for not blocking their products and services, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).
Around $100 million was laundered, according to the bureau.
At first, the President’s Office tried to downplay Mindich’s role in the corruption case. But as more details emerged, Zelensky turned to one of his usual tools, promising to impose sanctions on his former business partner.
But Mindich had managed to flee the country before he could be charged.
“The inner circle is always a problem for almost every Ukrainian president,” political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told the Kyiv Independent.
“For Zelensky, these are friends. People he knew and trusted. But life has punished him a few times, especially now with Mindich, showing that excessive trust in friends can end badly.”
Without a background in politics and with a promise to inject “fresh faces” into a stuffy political environment, Zelensky put together his team in 2019 on the go. Without a proper selection, friends and business partners became his core group.
Political analyst Oleh Saakian believes that the way the current government was formed has led to a problematic inner circle.
“Society voted for Zelensky as an idea, not for his team or an ideology,” he told the Kyiv Independent.
“We end up with a situation where decision-making is concentrated in the President’s Office,” said Saakian. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was only a matter of time before someone in the inner circle started enriching themselves or tried to play their own game.”
Zelensky’s entire presidential campaign was built on promises to fight corruption. His predecessor’s shortcomings assisted him.
Presidential candidates Volodymyr Zelensky and Petro Poroshenko during the debates at the Olimpyskiy Stadium in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 19, 2019. (Celestino Arce/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Zelensky often cited the dealings of then-National Security and Defense Council Deputy Head Oleh Hladkovskyi (Svynarchuk), a top ally and business partner of Poroshenko, whose son was implicated in a large-scale embezzlement scheme dealing with defense contracts months before the election.
“Modern politicians are tied to old grudges, nepotism, and business projects, and are incapable of changing Ukraine,” said Zelensky in 2019.
Within the first two years of Zelensky’s presidency, around 30 people connected either to Zelensky’s family or his former comedy group were appointed to high-ranking positions, according to an investigative media outlet, Bihus.Info.
When journalists asked Zelensky about his inner circle, he often responded with irritation, defending even his most controversial associates, such as Oleh Tatarov, the deputy head of the President’s Office who was charged with bribery in Zelensky’s early days in office.
“If I lose my team, and it’s a small one — 5–6 managers — we will become weaker,” Zelensky said in 2023.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak (R) and his controversial deputy Oleh Tatarov (L) in Kyiv on April 12, 2023. (Kaniuka Ruslan / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
According to Fesenko, Zelensky views many political issues through the lens of ordinary people, which is why he appointed those he trusted to key positions, not seeing it as nepotism.
Around 50% of Ukrainians believed Zelensky had fulfilled few or none of his presidential campaign promises, according to a 2024 survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Among those who felt he failed to deliver, 50% cited “dishonest, corrupt people in his team,” while 32% pointed to a lack of competent staff.
Tatarov and another deputy head of Zelensky’s President’s Office, Andrii Smyrnov, have been charged. Smyrnov was dismissed in 2024, while Tatarov maintained his position.
One more deputy head, Rostyslav Shurma, is at the center of an anti-corruption investigation. His Munich apartment was raided by law enforcement this summer. He hasn’t yet been charged.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, who is allegedly close to Zelensky, has been charged with illicit enrichment twice.
Those officials who faced public backlash were also sent abroad as ambassadors, a move often seen as a way to cover up high-profile scandals. Ex-Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin, who resigned amid a major corruption scandal, was appointed Ukraine’s ambassador to the Netherlands. His predecessor, Iryna Venediktova, was appointed ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
The energy corruption scandal is still unfolding, with ongoing arrest hearings revealing new details every day.. Wherever it leads, Fesenko believes that Zelensky will face “inevitable” reputational losses.
The scandal is the second blow to Zelensky’s domestic stance in recent months. It follows his administration’s unsuccessful attempt, back in July, to crush the independence of the country’s anti-corruption institutions — the same ones that are now exposing Zelensky’s associates’ alleged corruption.
Ukraine’s ongoing nuclear energy corruption scandal, explained
Note from the author:
Hello there! This is Kateryna Denisova, the author of this piece. I hope you found this article informative. Despite Russia’s ongoing full-scale war, Ukraine’s domestic politics has been back in the spotlight in recent months.
Please consider supporting our reporting. We promise to deliver more stories on this topic going forward. Thank you.
