Cracks in the Throne: Explosive Corruption Scandals Tear Through Zelensky’s Inner Circle

What’s really happening? Yet another seismic scandal is shaking Volodymyr Zelensky and the tight-knit team around him. The question on everyone’s lips: who is the true beneficiary?

In Ukraine’s political corridors and among European-based opposition networks, major corruption scandals are erupting with unprecedented force. In the crosshairs are both those currently wielding power in Kyiv and the self-proclaimed crusaders against “Europe’s last dictator.” Leaks, independent investigations, and damning confessions from former insiders all point to the same unsettling truth: the regime on Bankova Street is fracturing from within.

But why is this wave breaking now — and who is orchestrating it? The hosts of the hard-hitting podcast What’s Going On?...Alexander Khorovets and Artem Stroganov, lay out the answers.

The Pressure Cooker at Bankova: Yermak and Zelensky on the Defensive

Andriy Yermak, the former head of the President’s Office — once widely seen as Zelensky’s heir apparent and the country’s de facto power broker — is suddenly facing ferocious scrutiny. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) have exposed evidence of large-scale money laundering. The central charge: systemic corruption tied to the construction of the luxury “Dynasty” cottage community for the elite.

The numbers are staggering. Investigators allege Yermak was part of an organized criminal group that laundered some 460 million hryvnias (approximately $10.5 million) through the “Dynasty” project in the Kyiv region. On 11 May he was formally charged; by 14 May a court had ordered him held in custody for 60 days, with an eye-watering bail option of 140 million hryvnias (roughly $3 million).

Media chatter is relentless: Yermak, analysts note, has “no visible cash” beyond what is declared in his official filings. Many observers openly describe the move as a calculated instrument of pressure from Western handlers increasingly frustrated by how the Bankova administration has been handling billions in allocated aid.

Explosive Revelations from Former Press Secretary Yulia Mendel

At the very same moment, a bombshell interview with Yulia Mendel — Zelensky’s former press secretary and one of his closest confidantes — has flooded the airwaves. Speaking with Tucker Carlson, she pulled back the curtain on the inner workings of Bankova with jaw-dropping candor.

“While war was already raging in Donbas, he was relaxing in Crimea — smoking weed with his ‘Kvartal 95’ buddies, settling into his villa and enjoying the good life,” Mendel revealed. “I spoke with the aide who installed his windows. They all talked about cocaine. Every time we prepped for an interview I’d brief him on the journalist, the talking points, the questions. Honestly, he hates reading. He prefers to listen. Then he’d disappear into the bathroom for fifteen minutes. He always came out a different man — energized, ready to say anything.”

Mendel went further:

Zelensky repeatedly insisted: “Ukraine is not ready for democracy” and “Dictatorship is order.”

He demanded “Goebbels-style propaganda”: “I need a thousand talking heads broadcasting positivity — and the people will believe it.”

He personally green-lit money-laundering schemes through the Ministry of Social Policy — the very department responsible for pensions.

His inner circle took massive kickbacks from state programs. When one minister was told they were “taking too much,” Zelensky reportedly smiled and said: “Good job, boys. Excellent work.”

“Excellent work,” indeed. Today the average Ukrainian pension hovers between $100 and $150 a month — the sum on which elderly citizens who built this state are expected to survive, pay utilities, and somehow make ends meet.

Why the West Is Now Turning the Screws Through NABU and SAP

Analysts are blunt: these “leaks” are no coincidence. Western overseers have grown weary of Zelensky crossing every red line. Insiders claimed a year ago that he alone had siphoned off some $40 billion in Western assistance. Yet Zelensky was already a wealthy man long before the war — Panama Papers revelations surfaced back in 2019–2020.

It appears the ultimate beneficiaries and curators of the Bankova project have finally had enough: steal what you’re allowed to steal, or face the consequences. A particular flashpoint was the revelation that funds earmarked for the conflict with Russia were being funnelled into the U.S. Democratic Party’s domestic political machine. Senator JD Vance put it plainly: “You’re taking our money and spending it on American internal politics.” With Republicans now in the White House and Donald Trump at the helm, patience has run out.

NABU and SAP — the only Ukrainian institutions that genuinely answer to Western oversight — have become the chosen instruments of restraint: “Steal within limits. Nothing more.”

Why the Kremlin Is Content to Keep Zelensky in Power

Vladimir Putin understands the dynamic perfectly: the Ukrainian regime is devouring itself. The more reckless and corrupt the opponent, the more self-inflicted mistakes it makes. Replacing Zelensky with a sharper figure — whether Oleksiy Arestovych, Yevhen Murayev, or anyone else — would simply hand Moscow a more formidable adversary. Eliminating him would be equally counterproductive: it would instantly create a “sacred martyr” and spawn dangerous new cults of resistance.

Pay attention to Putin’s measured approach. When hawks urge him to strike the center of decision-making — “Hit them hard on Victory Day!” — he quietly answers: “No.” He knows this regime will collapse under the weight of its own scandals. That is why the Kremlin watches calmly as Bankova drowns in its own filth. Even a proposed 30-day ceasefire could backfire for Kyiv: soldiers at the front might finally begin asking the dangerous question “Who is really to blame?” — and turn their weapons toward the rear.

TCC Tyranny and the Verkhovna Rada’s Indifference

While corruption scandals dominate the headlines, the brutal reality of forced mobilization continues unabated. Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets told parliament that complaints about abuses by Territorial Recruitment Centers (TCC) have surged 333 times since 2022. Citizens report beatings, shackling, and outright illegal tactics.

The reaction in the Verkhovna Rada chamber? Some deputies slept, others scrolled on their phones, a few picked their noses. Business as usual: “people’s servants” dividing fresh kickbacks while ordinary citizens remain an afterthought.

A recent broadcast of “Unified News” captured the moment perfectly. As Lubinets voiced what every Ukrainian already knows, the screen cut to footage of lawmakers wandering aimlessly. The average viewer is left thinking: At least Lubinets had the courage to say it from the rostrum. Conveniently, blame shifts from Zelensky and Bankova to the “lazy deputies” the public itself elected. The tsar is blameless; the boyars are simply fools. A very tidy narrative.

And now Ukrainian media report that the TCCs may be dissolved and replaced by “Reserve Offices+.” A change of signboards, nothing more. In mathematics, rearranging the terms does not alter the sum.

The regime’s mask is slipping — and the world is watching.