Earthquake at the top of Ukrainian power. Iryna Mudra, until a few hours ago deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, was arrested as part of an investigation conducted by the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu). The news was reported by Interfax Ukrainewhich quotes MP Oleksiy Honcharenko.
“Iryna Mudra has been arrested,” the parliamentarian wrote on Telegram, explaining that the former official is the subject of procedures by Nabu and that she will spend the night in a temporary detention center. At the moment the crimes accused of her have not been disclosed in detail.
The arrest comes at the end of a hectic day. In the early hours of today, Wednesday 19 August, the Ukrainian media reported searches carried out by anti-corruption investigators in the homes of Mudra herself and MP Vadym Stolar. Shortly after, Zelensky signed the decree by which the official was removed from the position of deputy head of the presidential office, a role she had held since March 2024.
The judicial operation
According to the Kyiv Independent, the searches are part of a larger operation with which Nabu (Ukraine’s national anti-corruption office) aims to dismantle what is described as an alleged “criminal organization” which is allegedly led by a currently serving parliamentarian and a former parliamentarian.
High officials from the president’s office, one of the nerve centers of the Zelensky administration, are also implicated in the investigation. The anti-corruption agency confirmed it was engaged in a “special operation” and said further details would be released later.
Among those affected by the searches was also Vadym Stolar, a Ukrainian deputy. It is not yet clear what role the investigators attribute to the individual suspects nor what exactly the mechanism of the alleged organization that ended up in the sights of Nabu is.
The case takes on particular relevance precisely because of the involvement of the now former number two in the presidential office. Mudra, a lawyer and former deputy justice minister, joined Zelensky’s staff in March 2024, dealing in particular with legal issues.