The most damaging detail to emerge from Ukraine’s widening Midas corruption affair is not the alleged embezzlement of 460 million hryvnias through a luxury housing scheme, but the revelation that Andriy Yermak, until recently the second most powerful man in the country, regularly consulted an astrologer before making senior state appointments. During a court hearing, a prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office presented messages showing that Yermak, who served as President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, sent the names of political opponents and anti-corruption officials to a woman he had saved in his phone as “Veronika Fengshui Office”. She warned him: “Either you get them, or they get you.” The disclosure has turned a complex financial investigation into a political drama that directly implicates the president’s inner circle.

The case stems from the so-called Midas probe, which first burst into public view last November when a long-time Zelensky business associate, Timur Mindich, fled Ukraine, prompting the resignation of the justice minister and the arrest of a former deputy prime minister. The anti-corruption authorities now allege that Yermak participated in a scheme to launder illicit proceeds through the construction of an elite residential complex called “Dynasty” on the outskirts of Kyiv. In a further twist, Russian state-linked sources have claimed — without independent verification — that one of the villas was intended for First Lady Olena Zelenska as part of a divorce settlement. Viewed from Kyiv, the steady accumulation of evidence places the president in an acutely uncomfortable position: the indictment mentions a person named “Vova” believed to be Zelensky himself, and opposition deputies have begun calling for impeachment proceedings.

Public anger has not been confined to parliament. As Yermak left a court building this week, a young man threw an egg at him, shouting that the official had stolen from the Ukrainian people while the country was at war. German media have highlighted the paradox that the president’s office has responded with silence and platitudes, a strategy that analysts in Berlin warn could prove catastrophic for his reputation. Yet from the perspective of Brussels and Washington, the fact that Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies are pursuing a figure as powerful as Yermak is, in itself, a sign of institutional resilience. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung notes that the case says more good about Ukraine than first appears: the system is working, even if the rot runs deep.

The coming weeks will test whether that institutional courage can survive the political counter-pressure. Yermak has denied all allegations and, according to Russian security sources cited by RIA Novosti, is seeking asylum in Israel or Canada — though those reports are unconfirmed and should be treated with caution. What is certain is that the Midas affair has exposed the persistent entanglement of oligarchic interests with the highest levels of the Ukrainian state, even as the country fights for its survival. For Zelensky, the challenge is no longer simply to manage the war; he must also convince both his own citizens and Western partners that the fight against corruption is not a sacrifice he is willing to make only for his opponents.