Zelenskyy fires aide as corruption crisis deepens, ex-minister demands wartime election

The morning after a former defence minister called for Ukraine to hold a presidential election during wartime, Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired a senior aide. Iryna Mudra, who served as deputy chief of staff in the president's office, was dismissed by presidential decree on Wednesday. The timing was not coincidental. Ukrainian media had reported that investigators searching Mudra's house suspected her involvement in a money-laundering scheme—part of a widening corruption scandal that has begun to crack the foundation of Zelenskyy's government.

Mykhailo Fedorov, who until recently served as defence minister, had released a nine-minute video the night before, breaking ranks with the president in a way no major Ukrainian official had dared to do since Russia's invasion began in February 2022. Fedorov did not mince words. He described Ukraine as facing "a systemic crisis of governance," arguing that corruption had metastasized under Zelenskyy's watch and that the president had lost control. "Corruption is only a symptom," Fedorov said. "The main problem runs much deeper." He then posed a direct challenge: Ukraine should hold a presidential election, even while at war. "Can Russia effectively be given the right to dictate when Ukrainians can choose their government again?" he asked. "I am convinced that the answer is no."

The question was radical. Elections have been suspended since the invasion began. Zelenskyy's term technically expired in spring 2024, but the constitution prohibits elections during wartime, and most Ukrainians have considered them impractical and potentially destabilizing while Russian forces continue daily attacks. Fedorov's call was the first time a figure of his stature had publicly demanded a wartime vote, effectively positioning himself as a challenger to the sitting president. He was already planning to travel to the United States, possibly within days, to seek American backing for his position—a move that carried obvious political weight given that Donald Trump, the US president, had previously called for Ukrainian elections, though at a time when his relationship with Zelenskyy was tense.

Zelenskyy's response was muted. He did not directly address Fedorov's accusations or his election demand in his initial public statements. Instead, he thanked parliament for confirming Fedorov's replacement, Yevhen Khmara, in the defence minister post. It was a studied silence, the kind that speaks volumes. Later that day, Zelenskyy presented housing certificates to decorated veterans and their families, using the occasion to speak obliquely about gratitude and the importance of honoring Ukraine's soldiers. "Gratitude is what should accompany respect," he said. "It must be an integral part of a normal state, a normal society and normal people." The comment seemed to hover between acknowledgment and deflection.

Behind the scenes, the anti-corruption agency Nabu was conducting what it called a special operation to expose a criminal conspiracy reaching into the highest levels of the presidential office. The agency released a video describing the alleged scheme without naming names: a deputy head of the president's office, a serving member of parliament, a former MP, and executives from a state-owned bank were accused of laundering 150 million hryvinas—roughly £2.5 million—through the bank to post bail for Herman Haluschenko, a former energy minister facing his own anti-corruption charges.

The web of corruption stretched back months. Haluschenko was entangled in the high-profile Midas case, which also involved Timur Mindich, a businessman and former associate of Zelenskyy who had fled the country. Mindich had been accused of orchestrating a large-scale kickback scheme involving Ukraine's state-owned nuclear power company, Energoatom. The scandal, uncovered in November, had already damaged Zelenskyy's credibility. Two weeks later, Andriy Yermak, the president's then chief aide, resigned after investigators searched his home. Yermak was arrested in May on suspicion of money laundering; his lawyer has called the allegations baseless. Mindich, now in Israel, also denies wrongdoing.

Fedorov's removal from the defence ministry in July had already triggered the largest street protests in Ukraine since the war began. Now, with Mudra's dismissal and Nabu's widening investigation, the crisis was deepening. The question hanging over Kyiv was whether Zelenskyy could contain the damage, or whether Fedorov's call for an election would gain traction among a public increasingly skeptical of their government's ability to govern itself while fighting for its survival.