Ukraine's anti-corruption authorities on Friday raided the home of President Volodymyr Zelensky's powerful chief of staff and top negotiator, Andriy Yermak, searches that come as a massive graft scandal embroils Kyiv.

Investigators earlier this month said they had uncovered a $100-million kickback scheme in the strategic energy sector, triggering widespread public anger at a time when Russia is hammering Ukraine's power grid, causing blackouts and threatening winter heating outages.

The raids are another blow to Zelensky, who is facing a mounting Russian offensive in the east just as the United States, a crucial ally, tabled a surprise plan to end the war that heavily favoured Moscow.

Yermak, 54, was named Ukraine's top negotiator in talks with Washington to refine that proposal, and an

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