The Price of Truth – How Europe’s Patience Is Fading and Zelenskyy Struggles in the Whirlpool of a New Corruption Scandal

Zelenskyy stands before journalists in Kyiv, but the real question has long been hanging heavily over the city: How deep does this new corruption scandal truly go? The resignations of ministers, the removal of half the leadership levels, the millions that are said to have vanished – all of it hits a country fighting every day for its survival. And while the front groans under Russian fire, impatience in Europe is growing. The partners want answers, clear cuts, no excuses. The pressure does not arrive quietly.

When Friedrich Merz called on Thursday, he barely masked what has now become a consensus in Brussels, Berlin, and Paris: Ukraine will receive support – but not unconditionally. The chancellor emphasized “vigorous steps against corruption” and the expectation that the country finally arrive where it should have been long ago when it comes to the rule of law. Zelenskyy promised transparency, stability for the anti-corruption agencies, quick measures to regain the trust that is already beginning to erode. At the same time, the EU is trying to interpret the political tremor without humiliating the Ukrainian government in public. A spokesperson for the Commission in Brussels stated that uncovering the alleged kickback system was a sign that the oversight bodies were functioning. A message somewhere between admonition and reassurance: Ukraine has a problem – but it also has structures capable of bringing that problem to light. Yet the scale of the affair is enormous. The justice minister and the energy minister are already gone, only the first stone in a chain of dismissals that has run through Enerhoatom (Ukrainian Atomic Energy Company) – the state nuclear authority at the center of the investigation. Finance chief, legal chief, procurement chief, an adviser – all removed. Russia is bombarding the power grid almost daily, the country is experiencing rolling blackouts, repair crews are working at their limits. That a corruption ring may have been operating in the middle of all this feels like a blow to the face.

Yuliia Svyrydenko, the prime minister, put it unusually sharply: At a time when Russia is destroying the energy grid every day, “any form of corruption is unacceptable.” The message was unmistakable: Anyone still taking money while the country burns is placing themselves outside the community. The investigation itself has pushed a figure into the spotlight whose name carries political explosives: Tymur Mindich, a co-founder of Zelenskyy’s former production company. Investigators consider him a possible mastermind. His current whereabouts: unknown. And at the political center of Kyiv, a thought is spreading that no one wanted to voice for a long time: How closely intertwined were politics, entertainment, business, and government in those years? And who knew what was going on?

Europe, meanwhile, is trying to keep its balance. Ursula von der Leyen announced another loan tranche of six billion euros – a clear signal that Brussels will not let Ukraine fall. At the same time, she stated that Europe was prepared to stabilize Ukrainian finances, if necessary through frozen Russian assets, new borrowing, or national contributions. Putin, von der Leyen said, still believes he can “starve out” the West. A mistake, as she put it. While the government pushes back against the scandal, the war continues to carve its trenches. General Oleksandr Syrskyi traveled to Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian troops are engaged in street fighting to prevent encirclement. His message: The city is standing, and it will not fall. But in truth it is a struggle for every block, every access road, every supply corridor.

At the same time, the general staff reported the use of a new Ukrainian long-range missile, the FP-5 – a weapon capable of flying 3,000 kilometers and carrying a warhead larger than that of many NATO cruise missiles. That the first test models were pink and earned the nickname “Flamingo” now seems like a macabre coincidence. The targets the missiles are hitting today are anything but playful: oil depots, radar stations, drone storage sites, command posts – in Crimea, in the south, in some cases deep inside Russian-occupied territory. Yet behind all military successes remains this political shadow that has settled over Kyiv. A country fighting for its territorial existence cannot afford a corruption scandal that damages trust at home and in Europe. That is precisely why this case is more than a footnote. It is a stress test for Zelenskyy – and for the promise that Ukraine is not only fighting an external enemy, but also the internal structures that weakened it for decades.

In the end, something fundamental will be decided in this crisis: whether Ukraine possesses the political maturity Europe expects of it – and whether Zelenskyy has the strength to break open a system that has survived for far too long. The war explains much, but it excuses nothing. The next steps will show whether this country is prepared not only to defend its borders, but also its integrity.