By the autumn, those same agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo), released the findings of a lengthy investigation that implicated members of Zelensky’s inner circles.
Senior figures – including two ministers, a former deputy prime minister and a one-time business partner of Zelensky’s – were accused of syphoning $100m (£75m) from public projects in the energy sector.
At a time when Russia is pummelling Ukraine’s energy grid with missiles and drones ahead of a fourth winter of war – forcing the entire country to endure daily power cuts – public anger at these corruption allegations has soared.
Just on Friday night alone, Kyiv endured a nearly 11-hour-long Russian air raid, which left more than half a million people without power.
“We’re going through one of the most difficult times in our history,” Iryna, a Kyiv resident, told the BBC this week. “Unfortunately, lots of families will not see their loved ones, their men, brothers or husbands, because of the war.”
Despite not being named as a suspect and denying any involvement in the scheme, Andriy Yermak couldn’t distance himself.
There was a suspicion he may have known something.
Local media reported on Saturday that investigators were combing through several laptops and mobile phones they had seized from his flat during their search.
Yermak led last week’s talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Geneva, apparently securing some concessions for his country in a US-drafted peace proposal which many feared heavily favoured Russia.