Zelensky sacks top aide amid corruption probe as ex-minister demands elections

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked one of his most senior officials as corruption investigators named a deputy head of the presidential office among the suspects in a money-laundering case.

The stunning developments came a day after Ukraine’s recently sacked defence minister demanded national elections, despite Russia’s more than four-year-old invasion.

Mr Zelensky has maintained that such a ballot is not allowed under wartime laws.

Although Mr Zelensky was not implicated in the graft investigation, it threatened to pull him into another political crisis and provide another test of his resilience.

Investigators gave few details of the probe.

It has identified a group of people alleged to have laundered 150 million hryvnias (£2.5 million) to pay bail for a defendant in a major graft case last year, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said.

That case, involving the state-owned nuclear power company, brought the resignations of Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers.

The latest suspects include a former legislator, the chairperson of a state bank’s board and the head of the bank’s supervisory board, as well as a deputy head of the presidential office, the agency said.

Mr Zelensky made no public comment on the investigation but issued a decree dismissing Iryna Mudra as deputy head of the Office of the President.

Investigators have not named her as a suspect.

Investigators searched Ms Mudra’s office on Wednesday, said legislator Oleksii Honcharenko.

Mr Zelensky remains dogged by high-level graft investigations, although he has never been named as a suspect even as the probes have engulfed officials close to him.

Last year, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak resigned and was later named as a suspect in a major graft probe involving a luxury construction project in the biggest threat to Mr Zelensky’s government since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

The European Union has identified deep-seated corruption as one of the major hurdles to Ukraine’s desired membership in the bloc.

Mr Zelensky is already under pressure over his sacking last month of defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, one of the longest-standing members of his team and a close ally since helping him win the 2019 presidential election.

Mr Zelensky, seeking to reconcile tensions between the Defence Ministry’s young and tech-savvy innovators and Ukraine’s seasoned, Soviet-trained battlefield leaders, risked angering both sides by reshuffling his wartime leadership.

He ousted both Mr Fedorov, whose changes to military procurement aimed to stamp out corruption, and commander-in-chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi.

That sparked street protests supporting Mr Fedorov.

For Mr Zelensky, it was the second time in a year that a move triggered a strong public backlash, after he tried to curb the powers of anti-corruption agencies in 2025.

Mr Fedorov, in an address posted to YouTube late on Tuesday, called for elections – appearing to directly confront Mr Zelensky, who notes the constitution prohibits such a vote under martial law.

“We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war,” Mr Fedorov said.

He said Ukraine faces a crisis in how it is governed, arguing the current system is oriented towards protecting itself and resisting change.

He also condemned corruption among officials without naming anyone, saying it had weakened Ukraine’s ability to fight.

Mr Zelensky’s office did not immediately comment on Mr Fedorov’s address.

It was not immediately clear whether Mr Fedorov’s appeal would resonate with Ukrainians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has baulked at negotiating a peace deal directly with Mr Zelensky, asserts the Ukrainian president is an illegitimate leader because his term expired in 2024.

Also on Wednesday, legislators approved Mr Zelensky’s candidate, Major General Yevhenii Khmara, as the new defence minister, a move that effectively closes the door to Mr Fedorov’s return to the post, which he has sought, anytime soon.

Legislators also gave their consent for Andrii Sybiha to stay on as foreign minister after serving in an interim role.

The political disarray follows recent successes for Ukraine in the war.

Using innovative drone technology, it has repeatedly hit Russian oil facilities, causing fuel shortages.

It has also shocked the Russian public by striking warehouses of Wildberries, the country’s biggest online retailer, and stalled frontline advances by Moscow’s bigger army.

But Mr Zelensky has been unable to get traction in US-led peace efforts, and Ukraine is at the mercy of Russia’s ballistic missiles because more US-made Patriot interceptors are not available due to low international stockpiles.

In its latest attack, a Ukrainian drone hit an oil refinery in Ufa in Russia’s Bashkortostan, its governor Radiy Khabirov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

There are three oil refineries in Ufa, and all have been attacked.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences overnight intercepted 453 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions, as well as Russian-held Crimea and the Black Sea.

It said Russian forces on Tuesday hit a bulk carrier in the Black Sea, south east of Odesa, that was carrying military equipment.

On Wednesday, the Russian military struck what it said were fuel and lubricant storage tanks for the Ukrainian armed forces in the southern port of Chornomorsk.

A Russian drone struck a minibus in Kherson in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, killing four people, said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration, adding that four women were wounded.

Another Russian drone struck a civilian car in the regional capital, killing a woman, he said.

Amid the fighting, Russia and Ukraine swapped 103 prisoners of war, according to Mr Zelensky and the Russian Defence Ministry.