Zelenskyy vows response after Russian barrage rocks Kyiv | Ukraine Brief

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]Good evening. I'm Benjamin Lee and this is Ukraine Brief live on TVP World.

[00:00:04]Today marks 1541 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And here is the latest update.

[00:00:12]Kev was rocked by a mass Russian missile and drone barrage overnight into Thursday, recording over 700 aerial attacks which destroyed portions of apartment buildings and densely populated areas. This comes after a mass attack against western Ukraine yesterday with Russia launching close to 1,500 drones over the last 24 hours.

[00:00:32]A portion of this nstory apartment block in Ke's Ditzki district was leveled in mass attack. Rescue operations continued throughout the day to extract survivors from underneath the rubble. For many, however, it was too late. Only their bodies could be pulled from the collapsing building. According to President Zalinski, as many as 20 people could still be trapped under rubble. As of 400 p.m. local time, at least eight people have been killed, including a 13year-old child and 40 wounded in attacks against Ke. The nearby K region was also hit hard. Rescuers today released footage of an unexloded missile warhead that was lodged inside an apartment building. In other attacks against Ukraine, at least five more people have been killed and over six dozen more wounded. Silinski has now warned of possible retaliations against Russia.

[00:01:21]Key mayor Vatelli Klitschko said that Russia's attack have caused electricity blackouts on and a water outage on the capital city's left bank. Klitschko also described the recent 3-day ceasefire as a Russian bluff.

[00:01:36]>> Unfortunately, there are electricity blackouts in the Kev region because of strikes. There is a water outage on Kev's left bank because of this. We've activated the backup system and I'm convinced that within the next hour or two, water supply will come back online.

[00:01:49]The ceasefire was a bluff. We've seen this many times. You cannot trust Putin.

[00:01:58]>> Witnesses of the mass attack against Kee have described the horror of the event, including the roaring sounds of Russian missiles.

[00:02:06]>> I heard something flying. It's flying nearby. I think Lord where will it fall?

[00:02:12]And then there was such a terrible sound and our house which is opposite the one that was hit jumped and staggered.

[00:02:20]>> I saw the impact with my own eyes and then I looked. There's a gap between these two buildings which wasn't there before. There was something between them before. It's such a tragedy.

[00:02:34]On Thursday, Ukraine's top anti-corruption court ordered President Vladimir Zalinsk's ex-chief of staff, Andrew Yearmack, to be held in pre-trial detention for two months with bail sit at $3 million.

[00:02:48]>> The court rules that the suspect, Andre Borisovich Yermach, born on November 21st, 1971, shall remain in custody for a period of 60 days from the date of his actual arrest. Bail for the suspect is set at $3 million.

[00:03:03]>> I don't have that kind of money. I have not prepared for this. I have enough friends and acquaintances. I hope they could help raise the money for bail.

[00:03:13]>> And here to discuss this corruption scandal and its potential implications for President Zillinsky. We're joined in the studio by Arena Koran, program director at the International Center for Ukrainian Victory. Welcome.

[00:03:26]>> Thank you for having me. So, taking a look at this corruption scandal, uh, most immediately, what can you tell us about, uh, what's going to happen next with Mr. Yermach? This $3 million bail, he says he doesn't have the money. He says his friends have them. What is next for Yermac?

[00:03:45]>> Uh, well, yes, I mean, the bail is out, but uh, the the money needs to be collected, and so far there has not been a huge amount of money. There were reports that 5 million Ukrainian harven so you know much smaller part than expected three million dollars was collected uh we'll see I mean you know we don't see actually huge um wave of support uh for for uh former uh president's chief of staff. So it is uh we don't know yet whether he will be able to collect uh that uh money for for for bail but uh the the trial continues.

[00:04:28]>> Mhm. Right now looking at this case I'm sort of seeing two sides of the same coin here. People look at Ukraine and uh um usual stereotype is that being of a relatively corrupt country but at the same time we see one of the top politicians being put under trial for corruption. Is this actually an evidence of systemic corruption or actually the fact that you know someone of this high ranking can be charged? Is a system actively fighting against the corruption?

[00:04:57]>> It is both I think but it is very unfortunate that we are seeing uh these developments in the times of war. You just described the the horrific attack that Russia has launched on Ukraine. And when we see how people are surviving through this terrible attacks, how everyone is mobilizing to, you know, donate support the the armed forces and so on. It's really horrible to see the top leaders, you know, uh top officials uh being involved in such uh corruption schemes. So on one hand I think it's really to the disadvantage of Ukraine that we see these developments because of course as you mentioned there is this narrative about Ukraine and corruption and so on and this is sort of just another example of a high level corruption in Ukraine but on the other hand the fact that the agencies are there they investigating and as you mentioned this is like a top case I haven't seen uh you know the the official of such level being in trial in Ukraine Ukraine or actually not any I mean not every country can say that they have conducted some sort of um you know investigations like that. So I think that's a positive sign and I want to also underline the role that the society has played in that because in July there were uh the law that was actually supposed to limit the independency of this anti-corruption bodies national anti-corruption bureau and um prosecution uh special uh anti-corruption prosecution and people went into the streets to protest those changes and to save these anti-corruption bodies. So the fact that you know they now able to conduct such a high level investigation is really a positive example. So I think that we probably need to look at this also from this point of view and then we'll see what the case uh proves. I think it will take some time. So I should also kind of explain that we shouldn't expect you know the results any day soon because you can imagine it's a huge case. There is a lot of evidence collected and so on. So we can expect it will go on for quite some time the the trial.

[00:07:07]>> All right. But usually with these type of case before uh the factf finding has concluded a lot of narrative is already going to be uh painted. Of course the perception and the PR is going to be very impactful as well. Right now the head of a specialized anti-corruption prosecutor's office said that the president is not involved in the pre-trial investigation as well and there's nothing concretely linking it to the president. But do you think that this already would have any sort of political impact?

[00:07:34]>> Uh yes, I think there has it has the political impact. Look, I mean uh Yermach was one of the closest people uh to to President Zilinski. He was his uh you know chief of staff, his uh friend for a long time, also his top advisor on a lot of things. You know, if you look back uh for for years even after the full-scale invasion, Yermach was accompanied the president on all these um trips abroad. He was in the most uh high level settings and so on. So I think that the fact that he's closely linked to Zilinski is already a negative implication for Zilinski himself. And then in a broader context, Yermaki is not the only one under the trial. We have several other people including former deputy prime minister for national unity who is also under investigation Mr. Cheshov >> and um you know so this creates not a very positive image for for Zilinski for his personal reputation but indirectly also unfortunately for the reputation of Ukraine but it is true that there are no obvious kind of links uh at this point of time uh to Zilinski but also I mean as as a president he cannot be investigated so he has immunity for the investigation. All right, I see. Um, like in his role, like you mentioned, you actually helped shaped a lot of Ukraine's wartime diplomacy as well.

[00:09:05]There's a lot of diplomatic missions and he's always present in a high stakes meeting with the world leaders. We're talking from Washington to Brussels.

[00:09:14]If there's already some signs of concern because there has been reports in outlets about growing frustration in Washington over him, what took so long for Zalinsky to well get rid of Mr. Yermak in the first place.

[00:09:28]>> Well, I think it's this close link that I described and the fact that he relied on Yermach quite a lot. Uh even now Andre Yermach in this trial meetings he underlines that he was working 24/7 and he was in contact with a lot of people.

[00:09:44]So I think that in a way he kind of made himself indispensable for Zilinski. So it took him quite uh quite some time to actually fire him. And then it was also obvious the place that Yermach was taking uh in in this whole you know uh structure of uh power. Um because um after his um him being out uh there were like quite a lot of internal how to say uh calibration of of the system and there are many other people. Now the some of the portfolio that he uh by himself was taken it is distributed through other people and so on. So in a way I mean he has taken over a lot of tasks and and I think in that that's why it was really difficult for Zilinski to dismiss him and it was uh only you know uh the huge pressure especially also from from the society from investigative journalists also I think from the partners because as you mentioned I think that he was receiving some uh kind of negative feedback at certain point of time from our partners about uh Andrem so I think that made him uh finally take this decision. And of course uh the the the first trials that I described in the bigger case was I think also um quite a point for him to realize that he can no longer tolerate such uh such presence in his office.

[00:11:13]>> All right. U last but not least, I'm curious what is going to be the most impacted going forward. Or do you think that this case might affect be it support for Ukraine in a concrete manner or do you think this is going to put any sort of a hindrance when it comes to Ukraine's EU aspirations?

[00:11:32]Well, I think that I mean as I mentioned it's reputational effect and I think that Zilinski needs to work quite hard to now regain the trust uh both uh in in in the Ukrainian society but also with the foreign partners and I think there are certain things he still can do but of course very important is our EU um membership and aspiration because uh reforms and especially you know this uh strong anti-corruption bodies are part of these reforms that are needed and I think there are pos possibilities for Zilinski now to push on some of the reform agenda because uh for example in that law that I mentioned taken in July uh it was not only anti-corruption agencies like Nabo and Sappo that were affected but also slightly prosecutor general's office so he can now focus for example not him but he can you know task people to focus on the prosecutor general's office reform on the reform of the state bureau of investigation that is quite uh overdue. So I think he can show some positive steps in this tracks to kind of u show to European partners that we are actually committed to reform and as I mentioned that society actually wants this change and wants this reform and I think it's important because our partners still kind of see that uh you know uh it's not just personally about Zalinski. Zilinski represents the people of Ukraine. He's an elected president of of Ukrainian people. People want change.

[00:13:01]People want this reform. People stood up in the protest to kind of save this anti-corruption bodies. So I think that support for Ukraine will still continue.

[00:13:10]Uh but of course we we need to to have some more positive steps on the reform side and I really hope I mean because again coming back to the attacks that they continue despite of everything and we need to ensure that Ukraine and Ukrainian people are protected better.

[00:13:27]So I hope that this will not affect us in long term but still of course right now we see that a lot of attention is being on this corruption scandal and the narrative as as we just discussed is being shaped around it >> right so we'll have to definitely see whether or not this will cast a larger ripple effect but in the meantime Koshan a program director of international center for Ukrainian victory thank you so much for joining us and sharing your insights appreciate it >> thank you >> and thank you for tuning into this edition of Ukraine brief But for more news, update and commentary, please stay tuned to TVP World.