Zelensky’s chief of staff quits hours after anti-graft investigators raided his home amid £75million energy kickback and ‘golden toilet’ scandal

Volodymyr Zelensky’s under-fire chief of staff resigned in dramatic fashion this afternoon after anti-corruption investigators searched his home amid Ukraine’s deepening corruption crisis.

Andriy Yermak’s resignation comes as Kiev is rocked by a major fraud investigation into £75m energy kickbacks, dubbed the ‘golden toilet’ scandal.

Zelensky, who announced Yermak’s departure in a video this afternoon, now faces growing domestic chaos as he tries desperately to achieve a positive outcome from peace talks between Russia and America, whose leader is said to be trying to cede Crimea and other occupied Ukrainian territories to Putin.

‘Russia really wants Ukraine to make mistakes. “There will be no mistakes on our part,” Zelensky said in the video.

Anti-corruption agencies are currently investigating a major energy corruption scandal, the latest embarrassment for the embattled president.

Both NABU and SAPO alleged that a group of seven people, including Ukrainian government officials, accepted bribes from the state nuclear energy company Energoatom.

The group of officials is said to have collected 10-15% of the value of each contract awarded, with £75 million of money illegally given to this small group being money that could have been used to help protect Ukraine against Russian attacks.

The scandal sparked further outrage after a former Ukrainian government official said the businessman allegedly in charge of the scheme ‘had an apartment with a golden toilet’.

Yermak’s political opponents are trying to link him to the scandal that has shaken the embattled country, claiming that he or one of his subordinates was the unnamed man referred to as ‘Ali Baba’ in conversations wiretapped in connection with the investigation.

The 54-year-old man denied involvement in the scheme, telling German newspaper Welt last week: ‘People talk about me and sometimes, without absolutely no evidence, they try to accuse me of things I don’t know about.’

Yermak was once considered the second most powerful man in Ukraine and had sided with Zelensky since taking office in 2019.

Zelensky said of his former private secretary: ‘The office of the Ukrainian president will be completely rebooted. Its president Andriy Yermak submitted his resignation.

‘I am grateful to Andriy for consistently presenting Ukraine’s position at the negotiating table, exactly as it should be. His stance has always been that of a staunch patriot.

‘However, I would like to avoid any rumors or unnecessary speculation. As for the future head of the office, tomorrow I will hold consultations with people suitable to lead this institution.’

He added: ‘We are now preparing for a meeting with the American side to discuss the steps necessary to achieve a real peace worthy of our people.

‘At a time when all attention is focused on diplomacy and the defense of the country during war, we must draw on our internal strength… and for this internal strength to survive, we must be distracted by nothing except the defense of Ukraine. I want no one to have any doubts about our country.’

The alleged ringleader and mastermind of the corruption scheme is businessman Timur Mindich, a long-time contact of Zelensky.

Even before Zelensky’s shocking elevation to high office in 2019, Mindich was said to be one of his closest associates.

It is understood that businessman Tymur Mindich was one of several suspects and fled Ukraine last week.

The scam was called the ‘golden toilet’ scandal because a gold toilet was found in the luxury apartment of one of the suspects. FILE PHOTO: A golden toilet in the house of Russian colonel Alexey Safonov

A man walks in front of a burned residential building following the Russian attack on Zaporizhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, a resident stands on the street as buildings burn after an evening Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, November 25, 2025

Zelensky and Mindich’s close friendship has been well documented, and Mindich’s rise to power is closely linked to his relationship with Zelensky’s inner circle, according to Ukrainian officials, experts and activists.

The president used Mindich’s armored vehicle during the final stretch of the 2019 presidential campaign, and in 2021 Zelensky celebrated his birthday at the businessman’s home during COVID. Both properties are located in the same building.

Mindich was also a close business associate of Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky, who supported Zelensky’s presidential campaign.

Zelensky later cut ties with the billionaire, and in 2023 Kolomoysky was arrested by Ukrainian security services on charges of fraud and money laundering.

This did not stop the Ukrainian president from imposing sanctions on Mindich, who has since fled Ukraine. Any criminal trial against Mindich, who reportedly fled to Poland, is likely to be conducted in absentia.

The scandal emerged as Donald Trump was said to be preparing to recognize Russia’s control over Crimea and other occupied Ukrainian territories in a bid to secure a deal with Vladimir Putin to end the war.

According to The Telegraph, officials close to the talks say that the US president sent peace envoy Steve Witkoff with his son-in-law Jared Kushner to convey the proposal to Putin in Moscow.

The move would mark the most dramatic shift in US policy towards the conflict since Russia seized Crimea in 2014 and risks a major divide with European governments that have repeatedly rejected any peace plans that include territorial concessions.

An official briefed on Witkoff and Kushner’s approach told the publication: ‘It is becoming increasingly clear that the Americans do not care about the European position. They say Europeans can do whatever they want.’