Nov. 28, 2025, 4:42 AM ESTBy Yuliya TalmazanA top Ukrainian official at the heart of peace talks was thrust Friday into the center of a massive corruption scandal, threatening to further weaken President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a crucial moment in negotiations to end Russia’s war. The home of Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s powerful chief of staff, was searched early Friday by investigators with Ukraine’s National Anticorruption Bureau, the NABU, which is leading the $100 million kickback probe involving the country’s energy sector.In a post on Facebook early Friday, NABU said that its investigators, along with those from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, SAPO, were “conducting investigative actions” into the president’s chief of staff. Yermak, a key figure in talks with the United States, confirmed in a statement on Telegram shortly after that corruption investigators were “conducting procedural actions” at his home and that he was fully cooperating. “There are no obstacles for the investigators,” he said. “They were given full access to the apartment, my lawyers are on site, interacting with law enforcement officers. From my side, there is full cooperation.”There was no immediate comment from Zelenskyy. Trump Envoy Witkoff Advises Russian Aide, Transcript Reveals02:16It comes after weeks of mounting pressure on Zelenskyy to fire Yermak, who has been a steady right hand to the Ukrainian president throughout four years of war. Speculation has long swirled that Yermak could be embroiled in the scandal, which has fueled public anger and been seized on by the Kremlin to try to undermine Ukraine’s leadership.Friday’s searches make him the highest-ranked government official to be implicated by NABU so far. Ukraine’s justice minister, German Galushchenko, was suspended amid the probe earlier this month, and former defense minister Rustem Umerov, who has also featured prominently in negotiations with the U.S., has been mentioned by investigators but not faced any charges.The scandal centers on an alleged scheme in which prosecutors said current and former officials, and businesspeople, received benefits and launder money through the country’s state energy company, Energoatom, according to investigators. Yermak has been a constant presence next to Zelenskyy through the ups and downs of the war, and has emerged as one of the few men that the Ukrainian leader appeared to really trust. But critics have said for years that Yermak had accumulated too much power and wielded excessive influence over Zelenskyy. As recently as Thursday, Yermak vowed that Zelenskyy would not agree to give up land in exchange for peace, a key sticking point in negotiations.“Not a single sane person today would sign a document to give up territory,” Yermak said in an interview with The Atlantic.Ukraine is facing immense pressure from the Trump administration to accept a deal to end the war, but Kyiv and its allies in Europe have pushed back against Kremlin demands that it cede key territory it still holds in the east.Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff will be going to Moscow next week to discuss the plan with President Vladimir Putin, who has long sought to portray the Ukrainian government as corrupt and weak.Putin has already used the corruption scandal as a way to discredit Zelenskyy’s government and its legitimacy, accusing the president and his officials of sitting on “golden pots” and not caring about ordinary Ukrainians. Putin and his entourage have themselves been subject of numerous corruption investigations in the past. Yuliya TalmazanYuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.