A meeting between the US President's special envoy for peacekeeping operations, Stephen Witkoff, and Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Ermak, scheduled for November 19, has been canceled amid the corruption scandal in Ukraine, The Economist journalist Oliver Carroll reported, citing his sources.
“As far as I understand, the talks between Witkoff and Ermak on Wednesday have been canceled. As I am told, Witkoff was probably not aware of the scandal he was involved in when he agreed to the meeting“, Carroll writes in X.
Earlier, Zelensky confirmed that he would meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on November 19. Earlier, Reuters, citing a Turkish source, reported that Witkoff planned to visit Turkey on November 19 and participate in the planned talks with Zelensky.
On November 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office announced a large-scale operation, dubbed "Midas", to uncover a major corruption scheme in the country's energy sector. The homes of businessman Timur Mindych, as well as the already dismissed Minister of Justice German Galushchenko and the company "Energoatom" were searched. According to investigators, the participants in the criminal scheme laundered at least $ 100 million. On the same day, excerpts of recordings of conversations in Mindych's apartment were published, in which corruption schemes were discussed. A total of 1,000 hours of audio recordings are available.
On November 11, Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Bureau filed its first charges, including against Mindych as the head of a criminal organization, as well as against former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of National Unity Oleksiy Chernyshov, who is Zelensky's friend and godfather. The same day, the Ukrainian government prematurely terminated the powers of the Energoatom Supervisory Board, and on November 12, the Verkhovna Rada accepted the resignations of Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk. Mindych, who is considered Zelensky's friend and "portfolio" man, left Ukraine a few hours before the raids and is currently in Israel.