How leaked conversations suggest backroom influence at a Ukrainian bank (opens in new tab)

A state-owned bank that formerly belonged to a Russian oligarch is at the center of a spiraling corruption scandal implicating several people close to President Volodymyr Zelensky. In transcripts of recorded conversations published by Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda in the first weeks of May, two businessmen with ties to close friends of Zelensky discuss potential candidates for the board of Sense Bank — appearing to exert influence over a process that should be free of outside interfer