Alleged court pressure over Poroshenko sanctions lands on Zelenskyy’s former legal chief

A parliamentary inquiry has been told that Iryna Mudra, then deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, used Ihor Dashutin, chairman of the Administrative Cassation Court of the Supreme Court, to influence judges hearing Petro Poroshenko’s challenge to presidential sanctions.

The claim was made on 2 September by Nina Yuzhanina, an MP from Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party, at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada’s Temporary Investigative Commission on possible unlawful official actions harming Ukraine’s economic security. She said National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) case files contain recordings of a conversation on 11 April 2026 between Mudra and former MP Maksym Mykytas about involving Dashutin in the sanctions litigation.

Yuzhanina asked the commission to summon Dashutin. Judges cannot normally be called before such inquiries because of their judicial role; she argued that, in this instance, he had used administrative powers rather than sitting on the case himself.

Who the main figures are

Mudra was one of Zelenskyy’s senior legal aides, with a brief covering judicial policy and international litigation. On 19 August 2026 NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) named her in two linked operations: “Forrest Gump,” which they say involved laundering about 150 million hryvnias (roughly $3.3 million) through shell-company accounts at state-owned Sense Bank to fund bail in the earlier “Midas” energy-sector case; and “Themis,” which they describe as a scheme to seize real estate and corporate assets by interfering with Justice Ministry registers and forging documents and court decisions. Zelenskyy dismissed her the same day. The High Anti-Corruption Court later remanded her in custody with the option of 20 million hryvnias bail; the appeals chamber upheld that measure on 2 September. Mudra has denied wrongdoing, called published recordings fragmentary and out of context, and said she would defend herself in court.

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Dashutin has headed the Administrative Cassation Court since December 2025. NABU searched his residence on 19 August as part of Operation Themis, at the same time as searches of other people linked to the Mudra investigation. He has not been publicly charged in the Poroshenko-related allegation, which so far rests on Yuzhanina’s account of the case file.

Poroshenko, president from 2014 to 2019 and now leader of the main opposition party in parliament, was placed under National Security and Defence Council sanctions in February 2025. Zelenskyy signed the decree. The measures freeze assets, restrict economic activity and revoke state awards. Poroshenko called them politically motivated. He sued Zelenskyy to have the decree declared unlawful. On 10 July 2026 a five-judge panel of the same cassation court rejected the claim; two judges dissented. Poroshenko said the panel had been pressured. His lawyers said underlying documents were flawed or falsified and have pursued further appeals, including to the European Court of Human Rights.

What Yuzhanina says the tapes show

According to the MP, the April conversation refers to an approach over the sanctions case, including an offer described as a billion hryvnias for the armed forces, and to talks with Dashutin because “I handle court matters.” She also said an 3 April hearing at which a ruling was due was disrupted after Judge Olha Kashpur requested leave the day before – leave Dashutin approved – while court listings still showed other work assigned to Kashpur that day. Yuzhanina presented that as an administrative delay that bought time to influence the panel. Those details have not been independently verified in open court.

The Temporary Investigative Commission has not announced whether it will call Dashutin. The criminal investigation of Mudra and others continues separately before the High Anti-Corruption Court. The sanctions against Poroshenko remain in force.

With Interfax Ukraine and Suspilne.

Caption: Petro Poroshenko as photographed on 29 August 2026. He posted on X: “We invited young politicians from 12 EU countries to the International Political Camp so they could see with their own eyes what the Ukrainian military truly need […] The guys and girls learned to work with tourniquets and operate drones. They saw how modern technologies are already being used on the front lines today and what solutions can save soldiers’ lives. The Poroshenko Foundation supplies the military with equipment of its own production and procures what’s needed for brigades throughout the entire war.”