The Ukraine President is facing a confluence of crises testing his ability to lead an increasingly weary nation nearly four years into a devastating full-scale invasion by Russia.
For more than a week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has struggled to contain the fallout from a $100 million corruption scandal implicating top officials and other associates.
The pressure on Mr. Zelenskyy has ratcheted up as the United States pushes a proposal it drew up with Russia that would require major concessions from Ukraine — and seemingly few from Russia — to bring an end to the war.
All this is playing out as Russia makes slow but steady advances across parts of the 1,000-kilometre front line and relentlessly bombs Ukraine’s power plants, causing severe electricity shortages as colder weather sets in.
Here are 5 things to know about the growing pressures confronting Mr. Zelenskyy:
Facing a rebellion
Mr. Zelenskyy has been facing a rebellion from lawmakers in his own party since the country’s corruption watchdogs revealed that $100 million had been embezzled from the energy sector through kickbacks paid by contractors.
After investigators publicised their findings, Mr. Zelenskyy dismissed two top officials and imposed sanctions on close associates. One Mr. Zelenskyy associate implicated in the scheme, Tymur Mindich, has reportedly fled the country. Mindich is a partner in a media production company that Mr. Zelenskyy was a co-owner of before he became president.
Some Ukrainian lawmakers and activists are calling on the president to sack his powerful chief of staff, Andrii Yermak.
Neither Mr. Zelenskyy nor Mr. Yermak have been accused of wrongdoing by investigators. But because Yermak is widely believed to decide key government appointments and to have sway in top political affairs, lawmakers believe he should take responsibility as a way to help restore the public’s trust.
The Servant of the People party that Mr. Zelenskyy leads won over two-thirds of parliamentary seats in 2019. But some politicians warn Zelenskyy could lose his parliamentary majority, or face a split in his party, if he doesn’t part ways with Yermak.
Many of Mr. Zelenskyy’s political allies feel something has to change, even if they have not gone public with their concerns, said Mykola Davidiuk, an independent political expert. One of the chief criticisms of Mr. Zelenskyy’s government is that too much power is concentrated in the hands of Mr. Yermak and his advisers, Mr. Davidiuk said.
“The management style of Zelenskyy is not working,” he said.
How decisively Mr. Zelenskyy responds to the corruption scandal could determine whether the fallout damages Ukraine’s standing with allies, said Mr. Davidiuk.
Zelenskyy’s hold on power is not at risk
Russia’s invasion triggered martial law in Ukraine, indefinitely postponing presidential and parliamentary elections.
So even if Mr. Zelenskyy’s grip on parliament weakens and his popularity plummets, he is highly unlikely to be unseated while the war is still going on — unless he voluntarily resigns.
Ukraine’s presidential term is normally five years, and, before the war, the next elections had been scheduled for the spring of 2024.
The growing political headwinds
Mr. Zelenskyy faces could challenge his ability to push through parliament any potential peace deal being negotiated with Russia. And if he were to seek reelection after the war, his chances could be hurt if Yermak is still in the picture, political analysts say.
A former general is seen as a rival, but denies political aspirations No elected Ukrainian opposition figures pose a viable threat to Mr. Zelenskyy.
One potential challenger could be Ukraine’s former army chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who oversaw several successful counteroffensives in the first year of the war and was sacked by the Ukrainian president in late 2023.
Mr. Zaluzhnyi now serves as Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK.
Mr. Zaluzhnyi denies any intention to enter politics, but polls in Ukraine show him as theoretically competitive with Zelenskyy, keeping speculation alive that he could be convinced to run in the next election.
The U.S. and Russia design a plan to end the war in Ukraine
The U.S. and Russia have drawn up a plan aimed at ending the war in Ukraine that calls for major concessions from Kyiv, according to a person briefed on the plan, including granting some demands the Kremlin has made repeatedly since it invaded early in 2022.
The plan calls in part for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia and to abandon certain weaponry, according to the person, who was not authorised to comment on the plan publicly. It would also include the rollback of some critical U.S. military assistance.
Russia, as part of the proposal, would be given effective control of the entire eastern Donbas region — an area Moscow has long sought — even though Ukraine is still in control of part of it.
Mr. Zelenskyy has previously rejected the same conditions, describing them as unconstitutional and unjust. Zelenskyy has yet to comment on the new U.S. plan.
Reports about the plan came out just as Zelenskyy was facing increased unrest over the corruption scandal. “The timing is very damaging for Ukraine,” said Orysia Lutsevych, a Ukraine expert at Chatham House.
“Zelenskyy is vulnerable. Both the US and Russia saw the domestic scandal and decided to put more pressure on him to concede to a Russian plan,” Lutsevych said. But the effort may not work out as envisioned, she said, noting that European allies are coming to Ukraine’s defence and speaking out against the plan.
Pressure on the front and across the country
Against this backdrop, Russia’s better-equipped army has scaled up attacks along the front line and against energy facilities in the rear, putting further strain on Ukraine.
The Russian army continues to steadily advance in multiple areas. In the northeastern Kharkiv region, Russian forces are pushing on the cities of Kupiansk and Lyman, which Ukraine wrested back from Russia in the first year of the war. But the fiercest battles are around the besieged Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in the eastern Donetsk region.
Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power plants in November have resulted in some of the worst electricity shortages since the war began.
Published – November 21, 2025 12:50 pm IST
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