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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Ukraine corruption crisis deepens as Zelensky's new peace talks chief is caught up in same £76million fraud scandal as ousted chief of staff

2025-12-02

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The corruption crisis rocking Ukraine has deepened after it emerged Volodymyr Zelensky's new peace talks chief has been caught up in the £76million scandal.

Anti-corruption agencies NABU and SAPO have been investigating allegations that a group of eight people, including Ukrainian government officials, were collecting bribes from the state nuclear power company, Energoatom.

The group of officials are said to have collected 10-15 per cent of the value of each contract given, amounting to £76million that was unlawfully given to the tiny group - money that could have been used to help defend Ukraine from Russian attacks.

The scandal, which has shaken Ukraine as it sends negotiators across the world to try and end Russia's invasion, has claimed the scalp of Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's right hand man and now-ex chief of staff who resigned after anti-corruption investigators raided his home and offices in connection with the ongoing probe.

Yermak, once considered the second-most powerful man in Ukraine, was due to be in Florida to speak with top Trump officials about a peace plan that would end the nearly four-year-long war.

He was instead replaced by Rustem Umierov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, who was called up at the last minute, the Telegraph reported.

But Umierov, the 43-year-old former minister of defence, is also caught up in the same anti-corruption investigation, having been called in as a witness as recently as November 25.

A NABU spokesperson said: 'Rustem Umierov was summoned to NABU as a witness to give evidence in criminal proceedings with respect to interference in the work of a state official.

'The conversation was constructive. Rustem Umierov answered all the investigators' questions within the framework of procedural law'.

Posted by:Skidmark

#1 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: Skidmark 2025-12-02 00:19

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