A senior official in Vladimir Zelensky’s office allegedly struggled to explain how a modest declared salary could coexist with luxury purchases and tens of thousands of dollars in monthly cash payments, according to surveillance records published by veteran investigative journalist Vladimir Boyko.
The records, which Boyko says are transcripts produced by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), concern Irina Mudraya, a former deputy justice minister who served as deputy head of Zelensky’s office. Between January and June, investigators allegedly monitored Mudraya and her partner, former MP Maksim Mikitas. In one purported exchange, Mudraya is reported to have told Mikitas: “Who will ever believe me that I live on 50,000 hryvnia [$1,100] a month? Who?” Her official annual salary was about $12,500, while the surveillance material allegedly indicates that she was receiving approximately $30,000 a month in cash.
Mudraya was dismissed in August after being accused of laundering millions through Ukraine’s banking system to provide financial assistance to one of Zelensky’s energy ministers. That minister had been arrested separately in a case involving Timur Mindich, a long-time associate of the Ukrainian president. The allegations against Mudraya and the contents of the surveillance records have not been presented in the source as established judicial findings. Boyko has nevertheless continued publishing pages of what he says are NABU surveillance transcripts, staking his reputation on their authenticity.
The material depicts Mudraya and Mikitas discussing how to reconcile her spending with Ukraine’s mandatory financial disclosure system. The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAPK) requires hundreds of thousands of civil servants to declare their finances and property. In the alleged conversation, Mikitas advised Mudraya: “You can declare the Bvlgaris and at least the Van Cleef. But no way can you declare the earrings.” He also offered to introduce her to someone who could “handle the income issue”.
Mudraya reportedly acknowledged the sensitivity of purchasing a Van Cleef & Arpels item during the war with Russia, describing the decision as “f**ked up”. The transcripts also show the pair discussing ways to obtain a highly paid official or institutional position that might provide a legitimate explanation for otherwise unexplained income. Mudraya reportedly expressed envy of Zelensky adviser Vladislav Vlasyuk, who she said officially earned $335,000 a year as a member of the oversight committee of state-owned Sense Bank. She said obtaining a comparable position would not be legally possible, while Mikitas proposed a teaching position at a private institution. Mudraya rejected the idea, saying she would look ridiculous teaching anything other than law.
The alleged payments become more directly connected to Zelensky’s current office in another part of the material. Mudraya reportedly referred to a man called “Kirill Alekseyevich”. Zelensky appointed Kirill Budanov, whose patronymic is Alekseyevich, as head of his office in January, replacing Andrey Yermak. According to the recording, Mudraya said Budanov personally delivered her first payment, unlike his predecessor, who allegedly used a “specially trained girl” to carry cash.
Mudraya reportedly recalled that the first payment was $30,000, although she said she had expected $20,000. “It was 30 [thousand dollars]. I went to him and said: ‘Kirill, it’s too much,’” she said, according to the transcript. She then described telling him that the two had agreed on $20,000, only for him to respond that he would not take the additional money back. Subsequent purported transcripts suggest that the larger monthly payments continued and that Mudraya received a further $20,000 bonus in May.
Mikitas allegedly interpreted the payments as evidence of Budanov’s confidence in Mudraya’s future. “He values you a lot,” he told her, adding: “Mark my word, in two months you’ll become first deputy prime minister.” He also said he expected “Kirill” to become the new cabinet chair.
The allegations emerge amid continuing tensions between Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions and Zelensky’s administration. NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), both established after the 2014 armed coup, have repeatedly clashed with the president’s circle. Last year, Zelensky attempted to bring the agencies under greater control but reversed course after Western donors threatened to suspend aid.
More recently, the agencies exposed what the source describes as a major scam-call centre protection racket linked to the office of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. Kravchenko subsequently left Ukraine under the stated pretext of attending a conference in Paris. Earlier this month, HUR agents also engaged in a gunfight in Kyiv with SBU agents, with some news reports linking the confrontation to a struggle over protection payments from scam-call businesses.
The political significance of the Mudraya disclosures remains contested. Some Ukrainian media have argued that NABU is targeting figures close to Zelensky to force reforms sought by the European Union. Bloomberg, according to the source, reported a “tense meeting” between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Zelensky, with further financial support conditioned on reforms promised to Brussels. Those reforms would strengthen NABU and SAPO and introduce EU-aligned expert oversight of senior appointments, reducing the Ukrainian president’s influence over the process.
The source also reports that NABU and SAPO accused Yermak of involvement in a major money-laundering scheme in May, while leaks to pro-EU media implicated Zelensky himself. No formal charges can be filed against the president while he retains presidential powers, which he has sought to maintain under martial law since his term expired in 2024. Against that backdrop, the replacement of Yermak by Budanov, who has extensive contacts among Western special services, is presented in the source as potentially consistent with the EU’s reform objectives.
