Kiev is abuzz with rumors, charges, meetings, and cancellations of meetings, as the “Midas” corruption scandal emerges—with high officials in Kiev accused of running a $100 million kickback operation. After two of Zelenskyy’s ministers tendered their resignations, on Nov. 18 the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine ordered the arrest of Oleksii Chernyshov, a former deputy prime minister. His bail has been set at $1.2 million.
The head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak was accused of being the one on the NABU-recorded conversations referred to as “Ali Baba.” Then, after reports of various groups pressuring Zelenskyy, in meetings with him, to fire Yermak, one of the members of the Verkhovna Rada from Zelenskyy’s own Servant of the People faction, Fedir Venislavskyi, issued a public call for Yermak to go. Speaking on Radio Liberty, Venislavskyi stated: “I have not demanded that the president dismiss Andriy Yermak, but I believe that Yermak’s resignation in this case would definitely defuse some of the hype around the government.” He questioned “whether ... the president himself” or others together with the Office of the President, had appointed the ones now accused in the corruption case, and “indeed, there were many conversations among the Servant of the People’s MPs today that Yermak has to go, but the decision on appointing the head of the Office of the President is the president’s decision. We will see what decision he will take, when he returns and announces it.”
Earlier, Oleksandr Klymenko, the head of Ukraine’s Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), said that “a certain ‘Ali Baba’ is holding meetings and issuing instructions to put pressure on NABU and SAPO.”
Not to be denied, today Yermak announced on Telegram: “Today I proposed to the Ukrainian president that the Office of the President undergo a reform. The idea is that a significant number of its staff should be military personnel with confirmed combat experience in the full-scale war or combat veterans.” He said that “Volodymyr Zelenskyy supported this idea.... Because these people are the measure of honor, morality, and devotion to Ukraine.” Of note, there has been much tension in Ukraine over the sacrifices of the military while the high officials have profited from the funds flowing in.
Today, the meeting scheduled for Nov. 19 in Istanbul between Yermak and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was cancelled. Late today, it is reported by Ukrainian media outlet Babel, that Yermak has left for London to meet with Zelenskyy’s rival, Valeriy Zaluzhny, the former Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s army. For his part, Zelenskyy has suddenly announced that a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Staff should be prepared for Nov. 20. He stated: “I am preparing several necessary legislative initiatives and swift, principled decisions that our state needs.”
Back in Istanbul, it is not known whether Witkoff will still meet Zelenskyy, a meeting that had been reported by a source amongst the Turkish hosts. It is already unusual that Zelenskyy decided to go, instead of his assigned Istanbul negotiators. There was never a possibility of meeting with the head of Russia’s Istanbul negotiation, Putin. While he might have expected more, today Zelenskyy sounded a note of “sweet lemon” regarding a meeting with Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “I think that it will be enough for a substantive discussion.” He added: “We have some positions and signals from the U.S.; we’ll see tomorrow…. We are preparing to reinvigorate negotiations, and we have developed solutions that we will propose to our partners.” Later in the day, he made no mention of his U.S. partners: “Tomorrow, first of all, I have a meeting with President Erdoğan. We will be talking about the maximum possible ways for Ukraine to achieve a just peace. I think it will be a fairly substantive conversation. It may be long, it may not be very long. We will see.”
It is now reported by the Times of Israel, citing an Arab diplomat, that Witkoff will meet on Nov. 19 in Istanbul with senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya to discuss efforts to maintain the ceasefire in Gaza, an Arab diplomat told ToI. Something is definitely up, but there are more than a few moving parts in Kiev these days.
Otherwise, Türkiye’s head of presidential communications Burhanettin Duran had posted on X that there would be talks with Zelenskyy on Nov. 19, centered on how to establish a ceasefire and a lasting settlement. Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had indicated that his government had received a request from Kiev to meet and that their representatives would not be in Istanbul on Nov. 19. However, he stressed that Moscow remains open to negotiations; their position is well known in Washington, Kiev, and Istanbul; and Putin is willing to engage with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Türkiye’s representatives on the outcomes of the Istanbul discussions.
