Law enforcement searches inside opulent Kyiv apartments, one with a golden toilet. Pictures of duffel bags filled with cash. Audio recordings of officials discussing money laundering strategies.

These are among the details that have shocked Ukrainians over the past week as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration was engulfed in the biggest corruption scandal since he took office, destabilising Kyiv’s leadership at a critical moment in the war.

Zelenskyy and his closest aides had tried this summer to neuter independent anti-corruption agencies as they were finalising a sprawling probe targeting the president’s inner circle. But the Ukrainian president and his allies were forced to abandon the attempt after mass protests and outrage from the country’s western partners.