Volodymyr Zelenskyy sacks senior aide amid Ukraine corruption crisis
Presidential deputy chief of staff Iryna Mudra dismissed day after former defence minister called for wartime election
TL;DR
- Presidential deputy chief of staff Iryna Mudra was dismissed amid reports of a corruption investigation.
- A former defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, called for a wartime presidential election, citing a 'systemic crisis of governance'.
- Ukraine's anti-corruption agency is investigating a criminal conspiracy involving high-ranking officials, including from the president's office.
- The conspiracy is accused of laundering 150 million hryvnas (£2.5m) to post bail for a former energy minister facing corruption charges.
- Businessman Timur Mindich, a former associate of Zelenskyy, is also implicated in a large-scale corruption scheme and has fled the country.
- Elections have been suspended in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, and wartime elections are constitutionally prohibited.