Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court has set bail of 6 million hryvnia (€116,000) for Olha Stefanishyna, the country’s former ambassador to the United States, in a case involving alleged illicit enrichment.
The ruling was announced in Kyiv on August 6. Prosecutors had asked for 13.3 million hryvnia (€258,000) while her lawyers pressed for 10 million.
Stefanishyna was served with a notice of suspicion on August 5 by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). It covers three counts: illicit enrichment of 13.9 million hryvnia (€269,000) and two counts of filing a false asset declaration.
Investigators allege she failed to declare two Kyiv apartments, bought in mid-2024 through an acquaintance acting on her instructions.
They also cite undeclared spending on renovating both flats, rent on a further apartment, airline tickets and medical treatment for her mother, along with her use of a Mercedes registered to a subordinate.
The prosecution told the court her outgoings over the period exceeded her declared income and savings. It argued she posed a flight risk, citing her diplomatic passports and contacts built in Washington.
Stefanishyna has rejected the accusations, saying she “had nothing to hide and still has nothing to hide”. A notice of suspicion did not amount to proof of guilt, she added.
She wept during the August 5 hearing, telling the court she could not raise the sum prosecutors wanted. After the ruling she said she had neither 13 million nor 10 million nor 6 million hryvnia but would go looking for it, Ukrainian media reported.
The court also ordered her to appear when summoned, report any change of address and avoid contact with witnesses, among them the acquaintance named in the property allegations.
Ukrainian media reported she has five days to lodge the money, after which prosecutors could ask for her detention. Stefanishyna said her family had been receiving threats.
Zelensky removed her from the Washington embassy on August 3 in a decree that gave no reason. She described the departure as her own decision, taken for personal reasons.
Stefanishyna served as deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration from 2020 to 2025 and as justice minister from September 2024. She also faces a separate trial at the same court over the alleged misappropriation of 2.5 million hryvnia at the justice ministry in 2013.
The case is the latest to reach senior figures around the President. His former chief of staff Andriy Yermak walked free in May after posting €2.7 million bail in a separate investigation.
The European Union treats the independence of NABU and SAPO as a condition of Ukraine’s accession progress, and Brussels reacted sharply when Zelensky briefly curbed their powers in July 2025.
