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Andriy Yermak, a former aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been remanded by a court in Kyiv over corruption allegations.
Yermak served as the Ukrainian President’s right-hand man during most of Russia’s invasion until his resignation in November 2025, when he was linked to a multi-million-dollar corruption scandal that hit Zelensky’s inner circle.
He was accused of large-scale money laundering through the construction of an elite housing estate outside Kyiv.
AFP reported that the court in Kyiv ordered Yermak’s remand in pre-trial detention for 60 days, unless he posts bail of 140 million hryvnia (around $3.2 million).
“I don’t have that amount of money. I wasn’t prepared for this,” he said after the judge’s ruling.
“I think I have enough acquaintances and friends. I hope they will be able to help with this.”
He, however, denied the charges and said he would appeal the decision. He arrived at court wearing a suit and a badge in the colours of the Ukrainian flag.
“I am standing by my position. I will continue to fight. I will stay in Ukraine … I have nothing to hide.”
When he was asked whether he was morally prepared to be in a prison cell, he said: “As someone, who stayed in Kyiv, in the presidential office on February 24, 2022, when many said that Kyiv will fall in a few hours, in a few days… I am quite a strong person.”
Yermak was widely seen as the second most powerful man in Ukraine, an eminence grise tightly controlling access to Zelensky, prior to his resignation.
During Russian aerial attacks, the two men were reported to have slept just meters apart in an underground bunker below the president’s office.
Zelensky — whose reputation has suffered in the face of corruption scandals as the war with Russia drags on — has not commented on the new case against his former closest aide.
