Zelensky chief of staff drawn into widening corruption scandal

Kirill Budanov has been linked to efforts to raise bail for an ex-minister implicated in a major graft case

Kirill Budanov, the head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office, has been drawn into a widening corruption investigation involving senior Ukrainian officials, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported on Thursday.

According to the outlet, Budanov’s name appears in case materials concerning his former deputy Irina Mudraya, who was fired by Zelensky this week after anti-corruption investigators searched her home.

The case centers on efforts to raise and legalize about $3.3 million in bail money for former Energy Minister German Galushchenko – a key figure in a $100 million corruption case involving state nuclear operator Energoatom and linked to Zelensky’s longtime business associate Timur Mindich.

The outlet reported that Zelensky tasked Budanov with organizing the bail effort, with businessmen and former lawmakers brought in to help find the money. The funds were eventually paid through little-known companies with opaque ownership.

Recordings released by investigators show Mudraya repeatedly referring to instructions from “the leadership,” which the outlet said could mean either Budanov or Zelensky himself. In one conversation, she quoted a senior official as saying that corruption should be “systematized and controlled” rather than fought.

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Ukrainskaya Pravda cited sources as saying Budanov has become unusually cautious since the latest recordings were published and has avoided meetings with outsiders. The outlet also reported that he is helping Mudraya as she faces prosecution.

The case is but the latest of several major graft investigations to reach Zelensky’s inner circle. His former chief of staff Andrey Yermak has also been accused of laundering more than $10.4 million through a luxury property scheme outside Kiev.

Other recent investigations have targeted former ministers, diplomats, and senior officials. Foreign Ministry figures have been accused of stealing about $1.3 million in Western aid, while separate cases have involved alleged embezzlement in the energy and defense sectors.

The heads of the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) recently warned that graft remains entrenched at the highest levels of government. SAPO chief Aleksandr Klimenko said the state has repeatedly demonstrated that it has “no political will to fight corruption properly.”

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Last year, Zelensky sought to bring NABU and SAPO under tighter government control. He was quickly forced to reverse the move after it sparked nationwide protests and criticism from Kiev’s Western backers.

Corruption has also complicated Ukraine’s EU ambitions. A senior European diplomat recently told the Financial Times that admitting a country ranked 104th globally for perceived corruption would make a “mockery of the entire project.”

Moscow has long argued that the scandals reflect systemic corruption in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier this year that corruption “permeates the entire Ukrainian power structure, including Zelensky’s inner circle and Zelensky himself.”