Kyiv
Ukrainian authorities named President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s powerful former chief of staff as a suspect in a major corruption probe, a move likely to pile pressure on the president’s office at a sensitive moment in the war with Russia. Kyiv’s political class was rocked by a wide-ranging investigation last year that had fueled public anger and prompted the ex-top adviser and Zelenskiy’s right-hand man, Andriy Yermak, to resign. In a statement, Ukraine’s anti-graft agencies said Yermak is suspected of participating in a criminal group that laundered around $10.5 million through an elite housing development outside the capital Kyiv. The agencies did not name Yermak, in line with Ukrainian law, but he was widely identified by local media. Speaking to Ukrainian outlet Radio Liberty, he denied owning real estate in the development but did not comment further.