Home of Ukraine’s Lead Negotiator Is Searched in Corruption Case

The scrutiny of Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, could disrupt U.S.-led peace talks and further rattle Ukrainian politics.Andriy Yermak, Ukraine’s chief negotiator, speaking in Geneva in November. He had been widely seen as the country’s second most powerful person.Credit...Martial Trezzini/Keystone, via Associated PressNov. 28, 2025Ukraine’s already difficult talks over a U.S. peace plan hit a new challenge on Friday as the home of the lead Ukrainian negotiator was searched in a sweeping corruption investigation.The raid of the apartment belonging to Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky, came after weeks of calls from opposition members of Parliament for Mr. Yermak’s resignation over his close ties to figures in the corruption scandal.Mr. Yermak is widely seen as the second most powerful person in Ukraine, and the law enforcement scrutiny of him comes at a particularly delicate time for the country.A little over a week ago, the swelling corruption case, which revolves around a kickback scheme involving the state nuclear power company, was threatening to cripple Mr. Zelensky’s government.The scandal quickly receded when the Trump administration abruptly put forward a Russia-friendly plan to end the war, forcing Ukraine to scramble to soften provisions that Mr. Zelensky called grave challenges to his country.But now, just as negotiations are set to resume with a return visit to Kyiv by the U.S. Army secretary, Daniel P. Driscoll, the corruption case has returned to the headlines, ensnaring the very man Mr. Zelensky has entrusted with protecting Ukraine’s interests.The anti-corruption investigators’ action against Mr. Yermak threatens to further rattle Ukraine’s domestic politics at the same time that Russian troops have been making gains on the battlefield.In a statement issued on Friday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine said it had carried out a search related to Mr. Yermak. It did not specify any allegations.Mr. Yermak, a former movie producer and lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights, has been a close political ally of Mr. Zelensky throughout the war that started when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. In the political sphere in Kyiv, Mr. Yermak became a feared hatchet man known for removing any government official who spoke out of turn or became too popular, a potential rival to him or to Mr. Zelensky.After the corruption investigation was unveiled earlier this month, Mr. Yermak disappeared from public view for nearly five days, a rare absence for a power broker who had seemed ever-present. But he re-emerged as Ukraine was confronted with the U.S. peace plan, and late last week he led negotiations with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Geneva.Even as the talks seized attention in Ukraine and abroad, the corruption investigation loomed over Mr. Yermak and a second Ukrainian negotiator, Rustem Umerov, who was questioned this week by detectives in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, after returning from Geneva.Peace negotiations involving the United States, Ukraine, Russia and European nations have bogged down after the initial flurry of diplomacy last week, as the graft investigation in Ukraine has widened.President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has insisted that Ukraine cede territory as a condition for any settlement. In an interview with The Atlantic published on Thursday, Mr. Yermak said that Mr. Zelensky would not sign any document that involved giving up Ukrainian territory.Andrew E. Kramer is the Kyiv bureau chief for The Times, who has been covering the war in Ukraine since 2014.SKIP Site IndexNewsHome PageU.S.WorldPoliticsNew YorkEducationSportsBusinessTechScienceWeatherThe Great ReadObituariesHeadwayVisual InvestigationsThe MagazineArtsBook ReviewBest Sellers Book ListDanceMoviesMusicPop CultureTelevisionTheaterVisual ArtsLifestyleHealthWellFoodRestaurant ReviewsLoveTravelStyleFashionReal EstateT MagazineOpinionToday's OpinionColumnistsEditorialsGuest EssaysOp-DocsLettersSunday OpinionOpinion VideoOpinion AudioMoreAudioGamesCookingWirecutterThe AthleticJobsVideoGraphicsTrendingLive EventsCorrectionsReader CenterTimesMachineThe Learning NetworkSchool of The NYTinEducationAccountSubscribeManage My AccountHome DeliveryGift SubscriptionsGroup SubscriptionsGift ArticlesEmail NewslettersNYT LicensingReplica EditionTimes Store