Top Zelensky allies Yermak, Arakhamia targeted in new searches, summons, source says

Prefer on Google by Oleg Sukhov Andriy Yermak, Ukraine's head of the presidential office, at the 'Ukraine. Year 2025' forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine's president, said he would be ready to step down if it were to guarantee peace to his war-torn country. Photographer: Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg via Getty Images Andriy Yermak, ex-head of the President's Office, has received a summons to attend the High Anti-Corruption Court, while an aide to the presidential faction's head has been searched in a corruption case, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. Yermak and David Arakhamia , head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People faction in parliament, did not respond to requests for comment. Yermak is under investigation in probe into a $100 million corruption scheme centered around the state nuclear monopoly Energoatom but has not been charged yet. The Energoatom probe, launched last year, is the biggest corruption investigation of Zelensky's tenure. Yermak and Timur Mindich , a close Zelensky associate and a major suspect in the Energoatom case, have received summonses to attend hearings at the High Anti-Corruption Court but did not show up, according to the source. Mindich was not available for comment. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) also searched the premises of the Arakhamia aide on Dec. 27, 2025, the source said. This had not been previously known. It is not clear in which case the aide was searched. However, these searches coincided with charges brought against five lawmakers from the Servant of the People party in December for allegedly taking cash in exchange for parliamentary votes. Additionally, the NABU again searched the building on 9A Hrushevsky Street in Kyiv where Mindich lives, the source said. Previously Mindich's apartments in the building were searched in November. Nine suspects have been charged in the Energoatom case. Apart from Mindich, thes include ex-Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov and former Energy and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko . One of the luxury houses near Kyiv financed through the Energoatom corruption scheme was meant for Yermak, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent. The President's Office and Yermak did not respond to requests for comment. Suspects in the Energoatom case have given money to Chernyshov for the construction of high-end houses near Kyiv, the Bihus.info investigative journalism project reported in November, citing audio tapes released by the NABU. Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reported, citing its sources, that the NABU was preparing charges against Yermak in the episode involving the luxury houses. Ukrainska Pravda also reported in November, citing its sources, that Yermak was implicated in the corruption scandal, and investigators refer to him as "Ali Baba." Ukraine's chief anti-corruption prosecutor Oleksandr Klymenko said the same month that, according to investigators, "Ali Baba is holding meetings and assigning tasks to law enforcement agencies to ensure they persecute NABU detectives and anti-corruption prosecutors." Oleksandr Abakumov, the detective in charge of the case, also said in a March 30 interview that Yermak is referred to in the NABU recordings as "Khirurg" (Surgeon). Yermak resigned in November following searches by the NABU at his premises. Mindich, an Israeli citizen, fled to Israel shortly before he was charged in November. He was interviewed by Ukrainska Pravda in Israel in December. Ukraine has sent a request to Israel for Mindich's extradition .