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Zelensky’s approval rating drops by 40% in one week, says Ukrainian lawmaker

According to Yaroslav Zheleznyak, Vladimir Zelensky’s approval rating drops by 40% in one week

Vladimir Zelensky Henry Nicholls - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Vladimir Zelensky

© Henry Nicholls - WPA Pool/Getty Images

MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky’s approval rating has plummeted by 40% over the past week, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament), said, citing surveys conducted in the wake of a major corruption scandal.

"The opinion polls that I have seen show that Zelensky’s rating stands below 20%," he said in a video posted on the Strana media outlet’s Telegram channel.

Mindich case

On November 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), both independent from Zelensky’s office, announced an investigation into a major corruption scheme in the energy sector, dubbed Operation Midas. Searches were conducted at the Energoatom energy company and the residences of entrepreneur Timur Mindich and the now suspended Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who served as the country’s energy minister at the time of the events that are being looked into. NABU also started to release recordings of conversations from Mindich’s apartment, which revealed discussions of corrupt practices.

Charges in the case have been brought against Mindich, Igor Mironyuk, a former adviser to the energy minister, Dmitry Basov, Energoatom executive director for safety, businessmen Alexander Zukerman and Igor Fursenko, Lesya Ustimenko and Lyudmila Zorina, as well as former Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Chernyshov, who is also seen as a member of Zelensky’s inner circle. Mindich left the country a few hours before searches started.

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Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky

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