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“Is it possible to become president and not steal?” Volodymyr Zelensky asked before he became president of Ukraine in 2019. “It’s a rhetorical question, as no one has tried so far.”
Now his top advisers are tangled in a graft investigation. It threatens his popularity and his government — all while Russia advances on the battlefield and President Trump pushes a peace plan that favors Moscow.
A New York Times investigation details how that happened.
The allegations
Ukrainian investigators say that a criminal organization led by Zelensky’s former business partner embezzled $100 million from the country’s publicly owned nuclear power company, Ener…
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“Is it possible to become president and not steal?” Volodymyr Zelensky asked before he became president of Ukraine in 2019. “It’s a rhetorical question, as no one has tried so far.”
Now his top advisers are tangled in a graft investigation. It threatens his popularity and his government — all while Russia advances on the battlefield and President Trump pushes a peace plan that favors Moscow.
A New York Times investigation details how that happened.
The allegations
Ukrainian investigators say that a criminal organization led by Zelensky’s former business partner embezzled $100 million from the country’s publicly owned nuclear power company, Energoatom. Even as Ukrainians endured blackouts caused by Russian bombing, members of the president’s inner circle skimmed money from Energoatom contracts.
Here’s how the scheme worked: Energoatom awarded contracts to get work done. Then, a criminal group that included Energoatom employees and a former government adviser demanded that the recipients quietly give them up to 15 percent of those funds — basically after-the-fact bribes if they wanted to keep getting paid.
New details
When the war began, Ukraine’s Western allies wanted to figure out how to send money to Kyiv without seeing it vanish into the pockets of corrupt officials. To protect the money, they insisted that Zelensky’s government allow groups of outside experts, known as supervisory boards, to work as watchdogs.
But the Ukrainian government has sabotaged that oversight, allowing corruption to flourish, the Times investigation found.
Zelensky’s administration stacked the supervisory boards with loyalists, left seats empty or prevented boards from being set up at all. Leaders in Kyiv even rewrote various company charters to limit oversight, which allowed the government to spend hundreds of millions of dollars without outsiders asking questions about where that money was going.
Zelensky has blamed Energoatom’s supervisory board for failing to stop the corruption. But, according to documents and interviews with officials, it was the government itself that prevented the board from doing its job.
Zelensky’s role
Zelensky himself has not been directly implicated in the corruption.
But his policies may have enabled it. After Russia’s invasion, Zelensky relaxed anti-corruption rules in the name of boosting the war effort. He worked with political and business figures he had once called criminals, and, this summer, he tried to curtail the independence of anticorruption investigators as they pursued the case that ultimately implicated his associates. (He reversed course after Ukrainians poured into the streets in the country’s first large antigovernment protests during the war, saying that Zelensky was threatening Ukraine’s fragile democracy.)
In the course of the investigation, Zelensky asked for the resignation of two ministers and his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
A backlash
The scandal has thrown Zelensky’s government into chaos. Political opponents are coalescing around the first major anti-Zelensky movement since the Russian invasion began. And Yermak, now gone, had been running the country’s peace negotiations with Trump and others.
It’s an awkward situation for Ukraine’s supporters abroad. They saw a smaller nation stand up to a larger bully that wants to tear it apart. It’s difficult to cast the victim as virtuous, though, when its government is engulfed in a corruption scandal.
Let’s be clear: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had nothing to do with a domestic graft scandal. But the corruption does make it harder to tell a simplistic story about justice.
More on Ukraine
Russian troops continue to gain ground in eastern Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to prepare for winter combat, signaling after peace talks that he is not budging from his demands.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that radiation levels have not increased outside Chernobyl, even though a part of the complex has been malfunctioning since a Russian missile strike earlier this year.
COCAINE SUPERHIGHWAY
Video
How Cocaine Became a Big Problem For Ecuador
As Washington made combating fentanyl a priority, cocaine trafficking surged — especially in Ecuador, where criminal groups have run rampant. Maria Abi-Habib, an investigative correspondent, reports after her trip to Ecuador, which is suddenly one of Latin America’s most violent places and a cocaine superhighway.
Washington has made combating fentanyl a priority. But that has meant cocaine trafficking has surged — especially in Ecuador. People there are living in fear as violence surges and cartels battle one another and the authorities.
Ecuador is now the world’s largest exporter of cocaine, even though it’s not a major producer. It’s a superhighway for the drug, my colleague Maria Abi-Habib reports. Click the video above to watch her share what she learned on her trip there.
THE LATEST NEWS
Asia
China’s trade surplus passed $1 trillion for the first time. The country’s weak currency has helped make Chinese products attractive.
Thailand launched airstrikes on Cambodian military targets as the countries continued a border dispute.
Hong Kong had a near-record low in its election turnout, Reuters reports. Many people are angry about the deadly fire there.
Middle East
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In Gaza City.Credit...Saher Alghorra for The New York Times
In Gaza, the war weakened Hamas — but the group has become more powerful since Israeli troops withdrew.
Many Syrians celebrated the first anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime. The country is grappling with sectarian violence and deep economic challenges.
More International News
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Food aid in Chad.Credit...Caitlin Kelly/Associated Press
MORNING READS
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Circus dogs.Credit...Amy Lombard for The New York Times
**Good dogs! **Alexis Soloski, who reports on the arts, went backstage at the Big Apple Circus recently to meet the dogs who perform in the show. They have different abilities and different personalities, she writes: “a diva, a sweetheart, a lunatic, a star.” Some even help to shape the act. There’s a bit when a dog goes down a slide backward. “That was a canine improvisation,” Alexis writes. “So is a gag in which a dog pushes down hurdles instead of jumping over them.”
Aspen of the East? A developer wants invest $3 billion to to build a new base village at the Killington ski resort in central Vermont, which has never been known for its amenities. But is Vermont ready for that?
**Instagram-official: **Katy Perry posted photos with Justin Trudeau in Japan. People freaked out.
**Your pick: **The Morning’s most-clicked story yesterday was a review of an air wedge, a tiny airbag that can lift an entire fridge.
**Metropolitan Diary: **13 dinners, 13 records.
TODAY’S NUMBER
8
— That’s how many months Dario Vitale was creative director of Versace for, before the Prada Group announced that he was leaving after presenting a single collection.
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Credit...David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.
Here’s an excellent recipe for pad see ew from the chef and cookbook writer Arnold Myint: stir-fried noodles dressed in a fragrant mixture of soy and oyster sauces. It’s made here with skinless, boneless chicken thighs, but you could prepare it with beef, shrimp, tofu or pork belly. To replicate the smoky char you get in the dish when it’s prepared in a restaurant — or better yet in a Bangkok food stall — use your biggest stainless steel pan, and get it ripping hot. (Turn your stove vent to high and open some windows.) Finish with prik nam som, a chile vinegar you can make yourself in just a couple of minutes.
A YEAR OF ART BASELS
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Art Basel Paris.Credit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times
Our critic Jason Farago attended all four glittery Art Basel fairs this year, in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Paris and, most recently, Miami Beach. (Hey, it’s a living.) What he discovered, beyond some terrific art: Art fairs have not brought about the death of art galleries, as for years dealers and critics complained that they would. They didn’t become Walmarts for well-heeled collectors. In fact, the Basels were filled with galleries and gallerists. And despite all the spectacle, the art came first.
More on culture
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Cast members of “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” who are on the most stylish list.Credit...Lyvans Boolaky/Getty Images
Who was the most stylish person this year? We picked 67. The list includes Pope Leo and the “West Village girl.”
Our critics Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz selected the 48 best songs of 2025. It’s a delight to explore the list for validations and discovery alike. Also, there’s fantastic wordplay. Here’s Jon on “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” from Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll: “Imagine salvation were a W.W.E. match.”
Great news for fans of field guides. (That’s me!) They’re having a moment, and just in time for gift-giving. You might try “Fishes of the Chicago Region” for a pal on the South Side. “California Lizards and How to Find Them” for a cousin in Indio? Definitely “Moths of Western North America” for my in-laws in Oregon!
THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …
Watch the Philadelphia Eagles play the Los Angeles Chargers tonight. They’re both 8-4, so it could be an enjoyably tense evening.
**Review **what the jet-setters at Wirecutter have determined, over multiple long-haul flights, to be the best travel pillow.
**Stay **healthy this winter with our guide to symptoms of cold, flu and Covid — and how to get tested for each.
Take our news quiz.
GAMES
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Sam Sifton, the host of The Morning, was previously an assistant managing editor responsible for culture and lifestyle coverage and is the founding editor of New York Times Cooking.
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