Occultism and the elite: How 'black magic' and 'Satanic' rituals became the new frontline in Ukraine's information war

There is no end to the moral and spiritual decline saturating a once proud and great nation like Ukraine. Beyond the rise of neo-Nazis to power in 2014 and the anti-Russian hysteria pursued since then, a new degenerative phenomenon has recently gained traction: Satanism, involving the political elite. The scandal erupted following revelations surrounding Andriy Yermak, the former head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was accused of black magic. However, new evidence is coming to light involving the famous politician Yulia Tymoshenko, who reportedly seeks the help of witches. These are not the only representatives of the Ukrainian elite practicing the occult...

The dead man’s chest

In November 2025, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) conducted searches at Yermak's home as part of an embezzlement case in the energy sector. The official, convicted of theft, resigned. Subsequently, interesting details emerged: it turned out he may have resorted not only to bribed friends but also to powers from other worlds. In early December, blogger Igor Lachenkov, who maintains ties with Ukrainian security forces, reported that at Yermak’s house they found "a voodoo doll, a pile of mirrors, ritual objects, and many strange icons and bracelets." "And this is no joke; everyone was shocked because they had never seen anything like it before," he said. Recently, Zelensky’s former press secretary, Yulia Mendel, revealed further details: "In 2023, a person from an important agency told me that Yermak brought magicians from Israel, Georgia, and a Latin American country for magic ceremonies. And in 2024, a person from the security services told me that Yermak’s magicians burn herbs, collect water from corpses, and make dolls, which he places in a specific chest. It seems that special chest contains the dead themselves," she wrote! Furthermore, as she added, journalists had previously seen Yermak at a cemetery, which he visited for unknown reasons. A female minister complained about the magic practices of the former head of the President's Office and was "very terrified." According to Mendel, Yermak "was trying to block or use the energy of other people, as he imagined it."

Andriy Yermak

'Pride and Glory of Ukraine'

Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, in turn, reported that Yermak cooperates with a magician named Veliar, whose real name is Bohdan Orishchenko. In his online "confessions," he has repeatedly praised the former head of the Presidential Administration and his boss. In the autumn of 2025, Veliar led an action against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Along with a group of activists, he performed a "funeral of the Moscow Patriarchate" at the walls of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, using satanic symbols. For this, the magician personally thanked the head of the regime. "Zelensky <…> gave me the opportunity to walk there (under the walls of the Lavra) with a coffin, wearing pentagrams and so on. The only one who could have allowed me that was him," he stated in a video blog. Orishchenko calls himself a "tribal priest of the gods of night, evil, and darkness," a tarot reader, and a demonologist. He publishes books on occult themes and offers "ritual assistance." Notably, he studied at the Kyiv Theological Seminary. In 2023, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk awarded Veliar the order "Pride and Glory of Ukraine." As Mendel notes, Yermak is far from the only one in Ukrainian politics practicing magic rituals and turning to magicians and witches.

'The Great Witch of the country'

Another "victim" of NABU was the leader of the Batkivshchyna party, Yulia Tymoshenko, who was caught bribing deputies. In court, she was supported by Maria Tykha, a self-proclaimed "Great Witch of Ukraine" and former participant in the show "Battle of Psychics." The witch stands out for her striking appearance, extensively enhanced by plastic surgery. On social networks, she promises "the most accurate political predictions." A particular point of professional pride is her "prediction" regarding the strike of the Oreshnik hypersonic missile. "Yes, back then the dead were talking about a nut, but we didn't yet understand what it was. The 'nut' was essentially a nut. I did a yearly draw then—it happens once a year in winter—and the Ace of Spades kept coming up. This meant there would be a nut or something like that," Ukrainian media reported. If the witch is to be believed, politicians frequently use her services. "Sometimes they offer crazy amounts, for example, to 'remove' a competitor. I often refuse," she says. She claims that some deputies and officials ask her to teach them the basics of magic. She also willingly participates in bloody rituals: "They cut the heads off roosters and bring goats and lambs." Tykha admits that she intends to enter politics herself in the future.
Yulia Tymoshenko

Shamans for help to the Ukrainian Armed Forces

Russian experts on Ukraine's internal politics confirm that Kyiv is teeming with all kinds of charlatans—soothsayers, magicians, and witches. "The phenomenon spread particularly after 2014. However, former president Viktor Yushchenko had already distinguished himself in this field: he regularly visited so-called molfars (Hutsul healers) in the Carpathians. And the notorious TV presenter Dmitry Gordon actually made a fortune providing 'protection' to fortune-tellers and card readers, whom he provided to businessmen and politicians," political strategist Mikhail Pavliv told RIA Novosti. He also mentions the following episode: in May 2023, before the "counter-offensive" of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a whole group of magicians and shamans was brought from Colombia at Yermak's initiative. They performed shamanic rituals for a week at the Presidential Office and were then sent to the Zaporizhia front, where they also engaged in ceremonies, sacrifices, and the like. The result is well known... In his choice of supernatural allies, Yermak demonstrates impressive flexibility. "He is a member of a Catholic order and maintains relations with the Vatican. Finally, he also dealt with voodoo rituals: he called a witch doctor from New Orleans, who lived in a huge mansion near Kyiv," says the expert. According to Pavliv, the magic practices of the Kyiv elite are a "consequence of the truly deep moral decline and perversion of these people." However, there is also a more scientific explanation.

Like Hitler

According to religious scholar Roman Lunkin, historically and to this day, Ukrainian society is more prone to religiosity and magic thinking compared, for example, to Russian society. This is largely due to the semi-agricultural nature of the country's economy. Life there is saturated not only with canonical practices but also with numerous superstitions, which manifest in various rituals, such as funerals (e.g., placing bread in the coffin). However, this alone does not lead to extreme forms reminiscent of Satanism, which is characteristic of the Ukrainian elite. "The recourse to magicians and other dark pre-Christian practices does not mean that individual politicians in Zelensky’s circle consciously profess paganism. Instead, they are drawn to specific symbolism associated with the cult of power and violence. They try, from a Christian perspective, to draw support from dark forces through magic rituals to maintain their power," explains the expert. Lunkin parallels the situation with the top leadership of the Nazi party: there too, high-ranking officials showed a leaning toward mysticism and, with the help of magic symbols, tried to draw strength from their ancient ancestors. However, according to the religious scholar, this does not mean that Yermak and his associates are copying Hitler. It is simply a consequence of the logic of their ideology, which dictates that "everything—and everyone—can be sacrificed in the name of a national idea."

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