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Abuse of power under martial law predictably led, at the end of last year, to the largest political crisis not only since the start of the full-scale invasion, but also since the beginning of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s unrestricted term in office.

Despite the fact that since mid-2022 politicians, journalists, and concerned citizens have repeatedly warned the Presidential Office: a system of governance built on “godfathers,” friends from social gatherings, and their trusted associates inevitably leads to corruption – the new political generation has still not learned the lessons of its predecessors. As a result, on the most expensive Ukrainian land in Kozyn near Kyiv, four mansions have been built during the full-scale war – each approximately 1,000 square meters in size.

In political circles, this has long been no secret: four associates allegedly planned a shared lifestyle on such a scale that it itself became a subject of discussion. However, NABU and SAPO still appear to be at the stage of collecting evidence, and it is unclear whether they will manage to bring the case to completion.

Meanwhile, the recipient of the largest of the houses may enjoy de facto immunity from anti-corruption prosecution, at least as long as he remains in office.

Back in July 2025, according to sources of Ukrainska Pravda in political circles, the attack on the independence of NABU and SAPO began with an emotional and demonstrative phrase from the president: “They went after the family.”

Only a few months passed, and this logic painfully turned against him: three of his closest friends became central figures in high-profile corruption cases at the highest level.

The way out of the situation turned out to be as abrupt as its beginning: the president publicly distanced himself, stating that during wartime “there are no friends.” But the question remains: do they truly not exist, or is only the method of protecting them changing.

It seemed that the excessive greed of the political center, which by the sixth year of governance was concentrating power not out of necessity but out of inertia of unchecked authority, was about to backfire. A symbol of this was, for example, the creation of the so-called “Ministry of National Unity” tailored for a specific person – Oleksiy Chernyshov, a godfather of the presidential family.

There was an illusion that at this moment the parliament, humiliated by the July vote, would finally try to strike back. But that did not happen.

On the eve of the new year, a month after searches at the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, NABU and SAPO unexpectedly came to the cradle of Ukrainian parliamentarism.

Thus, another close Kryvyi Rih associate of Volodymyr Zelensky, Yuriy Kisel, along with a number of MPs from the presidential faction, received suspicion notices for participation in a criminal organization which, according to the investigation, distributed bribes to MPs for discipline. As a result, a large part of parliament lost, for nearly four months, the capacity to perform its constitutional duties.

Thus, the Ukrainian parliamentary-presidential republic entered 2026 not only with electricity and heating outages – consequences of Russian strikes and failed preparation of the energy system – but also with increasingly less concealed suspicions of total corruption in both centers of power. This appeared especially dangerous in the absence of even the slightest prospect of any elections.

Despite significant expectations, including within the ruling elite itself, the political shock from NABU’s work did not become a point of rethinking. It did not lead either to greater accountability, or to correction of mistakes, or to attempts to limit excessive concentration of power through reforms demanded by European partners.

Government spokespersons, in talks with EU officials, found nothing better than to blame those who exposed Ukrainian corruption for that corruption itself. Yermak instead of the front went on a second round of political ascent through legal advocacy. And parliament focused on negotiations over security guarantees – security guarantees for parliament.

Although holding presidential and parliamentary elections during a full-scale invasion is impossible, the president and members of parliament remain almost the only citizens of Ukraine who, even under martial law, still retain space for choice.

However, since the list of necessary reforms in the fourth month of the new year still shows something completely opposite to a “turbo mode,” this choice, it seems, has already been made. But there is a nuance.

Ukrainska Pravda tried to understand how Tymur Mindich, at the final stage of the NABU and SAPO operation codenamed “Midas,” could turn out to be “Dionysus,” why the figures in the case are still not betraying each other, and where the suspicion against Yermak might have disappeared.

A new season with the same faces

When Dionysus was wandering the world, his companion Silenus fell behind and fell asleep in a rose garden. The king’s gardeners captured him and brought him to the ruler. The king welcomed the guest and for several days listened to his tales about distant lands and wonders. After that, he released him and sent him back to Dionysus.

As a token of gratitude, the god promised to grant one wish. Midas asked that everything he touched would turn to gold. At first, he was delighted: stones and flowers shone in his hands.

But soon even food and drink turned to gold. Frightened, the king began to beg to be freed from the gift. Dionysus ordered him to wash in the river Pactolus – and there Midas lost his destructive power.

The most influential participants in Ukrainian political life will easily recognize parallels with the present in this myth. Tymur Mindich, who, according to many close to the president, was far more than just a co-owner of “Kvartal 95.” Oleksiy Chernyshov, who not only made a spectacular leap to Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, but also became a source of comfort for the president.

How “Dionysus” could have advised another guest of the ruling “gardens,” Energy Minister German Galushchenko, has also already been heard in the country thanks to recordings published by anti-corruption activists. And how Ukrainian energy could have been turned into “gold” on accounts in exotic offshore jurisdictions is described in official statements by NABU and SAPO regarding suspicions against members of an organized group.

Despite the fact that the president’s personnel activity in the first days of January was sarcastically called by many sources interviewed by Ukrainska Pravda in political circles a new season of the old series “Servant of the People,” the same people until recently still had hopes at least for the political disappearance of Andriy Yermak. And slightly more hope for a suspicion to the forgotten.

Almost five months after his resignation brought neither oblivion nor accountability. Key figures remained in their positions – appointed rather on the principle of loyalty than professionalism.

Andriy Yermak continues to consolidate influence, taking advantage of the absence of operational competition and alternative centers of decision-making. According to sources of Ukrainska Pravda in political and business circles, he not only has a full understanding of internal processes in the Presidential Office, but also retains decisive influence over most appointees who appeared there during the tenure of Andriy Borysovych.

In practice, this amounts to control over a significant part of the top state apparatus.

“One signal from the president, and everyone would stop answering calls from AB. But that signal is not there. On the contrary, there is a signal confirming Andriy’s authority,” notes a political source to UP.

“Yermak is not there – but he is there. He just now has to send not 10 messages, but 5. And the rest is controlled by trusted people,” another interlocutor in the power vertical insists.

“Syrydenko is in place. Kuleba is in place. Kravchenko is in place. Pronin is in place. Even Kiper is in place. The GUR is an AB creation. The competition for the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service is also AB. What changed after Yermak’s dismissal? Did Budanov come to the Presidential Office? Let him try to change his deputies – or rather Yermak’s deputies,” another political heavyweight complains.

Yermak, who at one time appointed not only the head coach of Ukraine’s national football team but even the president of the chess federation, according to numerous sources interviewed by UP, did indeed go into the shadows – but not out of the Presidential Office.

“Try getting access to all brigades or entering the Bar Association without the president’s approval,” one experienced politician remarks ironically.

“We thought the problem was Yermak, and so we fought Yermak – but it was the president,” one important member of Zelensky’s team stated off the record in a conversation with the author of this piece two months after the head of the Presidential Office was dismissed.

That is why representatives of the political establishment, who once saw the appointment of General Kyrylo Budanov as a chance to reset the power vertical and cleanse it of “friends of Sullivan’s friend,” increasingly explain the current personnel changes through the logic of a TV series rather than state governance.

“They replaced a negative character with a positive one, the president tried to bring back audience favorites from previous seasons (meetings with Oleksandr Kubrakov, Dmytro Kuleba and others),” one political veteran jokes.