Zelensky Fires Deputy Chief of Staff as Anti-Corruption Bureau Targets Presidential Office

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired his deputy chief of staff, Iryna Mudra, on Wednesday, August 19, hours after investigators searched her home as part of a widening corruption probe, according to the Kyiv Independent, Ukrainska Pravda and Euronews.

The dismissal came by presidential decree, numbered 734/2026. No public explanation was given. Neither Zelensky, the head of the Presidential Office, nor Mudra herself commented on the decision, per Ukrainska Pravda.

Mudra oversaw judicial reform and legal affairs in the President's Office. She previously served as a deputy justice minister.

What NABU says it found

Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) announced they were running what they called a "special operation to expose a criminal organization" involving a sitting member of parliament, a former MP, and "senior officials from the President's Office," according to the Kyiv Independent.

NABU said the suspects laundered roughly 150 million hryvnias, about $3.4 million, that had been posted as bail for a defendant in a separate, unrelated corruption case. Those implicated reportedly include a deputy head of the President's Office, the CEO of a state-owned bank, and the head of that bank's supervisory board, an apparent reference to Sense Bank, according to the Kyiv Independent and the Independent.

The operation has been dubbed "Forest Gump" by investigators, according to Euronews. NABU released excerpts of intercepted conversations referencing efforts to register assets in children's names and discussions tied to the presidential office, though it has not publicly named the speakers.

Lawmaker Vadym Stolar confirmed on Facebook that NABU searched his home and said he is "fully cooperating with the bureau." A source told the Kyiv Independent that former MP Maksym Mykytas and Sense Bank officials Oleksiy Stupak and Mykola Hladyshchenko are also under scrutiny. None of these individuals have been charged as of this writing, and Zelensky himself has not been personally implicated by investigators.

The Fedorov factor

The firing landed one day after Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's former deputy prime minister for digital transformation and one of Zelensky's longest-serving allies, released a nine-minute video calling for Ukraine to find "a legal, safe, and realistic mechanism" to hold a presidential election despite the war, according to Epoch Times.

Fedorov argued corruption "takes on an entirely different meaning" in wartime, warning that graft in defense procurement threatens Ukraine's "capability to survive and win." He also framed the election question as one of legitimacy: "Can Russia effectively be given the right to dictate when Ukrainians can choose their government again? I am convinced that the answer is no," he said, according to the Guardian.

Elections have been frozen since martial law began in February 2022, Zelensky's original term technically expired in spring 2024, and critics abroad, including President Trump at various points, have raised the legitimacy question directly. Fedorov, who was pushed out of his post in July, says his ouster stemmed from his push to overhaul military procurement, according to inkl. His removal already triggered the largest street protests in Ukraine since the war started, per the Guardian.

The counterargument, made by most Ukrainian officials and accepted by much of the electorate, is that a national vote is logistically near-impossible with millions displaced, a large share of the male population mobilized, and Russian missiles capable of hitting polling infrastructure at any time. The constitution explicitly bars elections under martial law for that reason. Fedorov is reportedly considering a trip to Washington, possibly as soon as next week, to make his case directly to American audiences, according to the Guardian.

A pattern, not an isolated incident

This is not Zelensky's first personnel crisis tied to corruption. His former chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, was charged with corruption and money laundering in May. Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk resigned in November amid a separate probe. Halushchenko was later detained by border guards trying to leave the country and has since been charged, according to Epoch Times.

Breitbart's account, drawing on older reporting from 2023, documents an earlier wave of firings, including a deputy defense minister and a deputy prosecutor general, over inflated military contracts and stolen aid funds. The current Mudra case is part of a multi-year pattern reaching every level of Zelensky's administration, not a one-off scandal.

What's unresolved

NABU has not yet released the full list of suspects or detailed charges. It's unclear whether Mudra herself faces prosecution or was simply dismissed as searches proceeded. It's also unclear whether Fedorov's election push gains any institutional traction, given that Zelensky's office has so far avoided any direct public response to either the corruption findings or the election demand. Ukraine's Western backers, who fund much of its war effort, will be watching how NABU's investigation plays out as a test of whether Kyiv's anti-corruption institutions can operate independently of the presidency that created them.