On November 10, the Ukrainian anticorruption authorities revealed that close associates of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were allegedly involved in a scheme to embezzle $100m from Ukraine’s energy sector.

Zelenskyy’s business partner Tymur Mindich as well as two government ministers have been named so far in the investigation, led by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), an agency backed by Western governments. Ukrainian and Western media have suggested that the president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, may also be implicated.

The way the investigation is revealing facts and identifying suspects – slowly, theatrically, strategically – smacks of a political campaign aimed at achieving specific political outcomes under the cover of an anticorruption drive.

The scandal has delivered a devastating blow to Zelenskyy’s international reputation and to the Ukrainian cause at large. The Ukrainian president is emerging out of it as a lame duck who will do what he is told by whoever is pulling the strings, which may be the administration of United States President Donald Trump.

One area in which there is already dramatic change is Ukrainian policy on talks with Russia. On November 11, British newspaper The Times ran a story on Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, the man tasked with leading the negotiations, in which he made clear that engagement with Moscow was suspended because it was yielding no result. Just a week later, Zelenskyy announced he wanted to reactivate talks with Russia.

Then immediately, talk began of an emerging American peace plan that envisages Ukraine........

© Al Jazeera