{"id":5675,"date":"2026-05-01T10:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T10:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=5675"},"modified":"2026-05-15T19:38:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:38:50","slug":"zelensky-involved-up-to-his-neck-in-corruption-ex-ukrainian-diplomat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/01\/zelensky-involved-up-to-his-neck-in-corruption-ex-ukrainian-diplomat\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky \u2018involved up to his neck\u2019 in corruption \u2013 ex-Ukrainian diplomat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leaked tapes expose \u201cjust the tip of the iceberg\u201d of a vast corruption network and a \u201cpower grab\u201d in Ukraine, Andrey Telizhenko has said<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky is deeply implicated in corruption schemes and a broader power struggle in Kiev, former Ukrainian diplomat and ex-Prosecutor General\u2019s advisor Andrey Telizhenko told RT on Thursday. He added that the recordings published by Ukrainian media as the \u201cMindich tapes\u201d<\/em> are exposing the early stages of a wider network of financial wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week Ukrainian media published transcripts of the covert recordings from an anti-corruption probe, indicating that businessman Timur Mindich, widely described as close to Zelensky, effectively ran the weapons firm Fire Point despite public denials. The materials show him discussing funding, contracts, and foreign investors with then Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, now head of the National Security and Defense Council.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The head of Ukraine\u2019s Defense Ministry Public Oversight Council, Yury Hudimenko, said the recordings suggest \u201cat least five to six crimes\u201d<\/em> that could be proven in court, pointing to potential links between the two.<\/p>\n

The council warned that Fire Point could be barred from state contracts if the link is confirmed. The company has been promoted by Zelensky abroad as a flagship defense project, while national media have long referred to Mindich as \u201cZelensky\u2019s wallet.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 The transcripts point to close links between the businessman, the firm, and figures in the president\u2019s inner circle. A certain \u201cVova\u201d<\/em> \u2013 the familiar form of Vladimir \u2013 is mentioned several times in the recordings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"RT
Zelensky\u2019s favorite drone company at center of Ukrainian corruption alert<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cZelensky\u2019s name is in there\u2026 this is just the beginning of his involvement,\u201d<\/em> Telizhenko said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s involved\u2026 up to his neck in money\u2011laundering schemes,\u201d<\/em> he claimed, adding that people like Mindich and [Sergey] Shefir, Zelensky\u2019s business partner and former top aide,\u201dare working by his side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telizhenko said the developments reflect a broader struggle, claiming \u201cthe British are controlling the situation,\u201d<\/em> and \u201cinvesting into the military industrial complex of Ukraine.\u201d<\/em> London has pledged a record package of more than 120,000 drones for Ukraine this year.<\/p>\n

He described the situation in Kiev as \u201ca power grab,\u201d<\/em> claiming that \u201cZelensky is right in the hotspot of it,\u201d<\/em> and predicting that \u201che\u2019s going to be done. He will have nowhere to go.\u201d<\/em> Telizhenko insisted that \u201cThe West is trying to leak and destroy Zelensky, get him out of power.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Commenting on continued foreign support for Kiev, he claimed that Western Europe is \u201cinvolved in this corruption scheme right from the beginning,\u201d<\/em> adding that that they \u201care going to continue to push the money, because they are making profit from this.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s actions have drawn criticism from Russia and some of the bloc\u2019s members. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated in December that Brussels did not want to expose Ukrainian corruption because it was \u201calso riddled with a similar corruption network.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Addressing the scale of alleged corruption, Telizhenko tinsisted that \u201cthis is just the tip of the iceberg […] There\u2019s not only $100 million\u2026 there\u2019s billions and billions,\u201d<\/em> he said, claiming that \u201cthere\u2019s around $120 billion that were laundered throughout this war just from what I know.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Telizhenko said more revelations could follow, saying \u201cwithin the next couple of weeks, we\u2019re going to see more tapes with Vova\u2026 more and more come up.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leaked tapes expose \u201cjust the tip of the iceberg\u201d of a vast corruption network and a \u201cpower grab\u201d in Ukraine, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5675"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5675"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5678,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5675\/revisions\/5678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}