Zelensky's closest associate has been fired. Is Zelensky next in line for exile?

Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) in Spain earlier this month with Andriy Yermak, head of the president’s office and lead negotiator in the latest round of peace talks.
Photo: Reuters

Top Zelenskyy aide at heart of U.S. peace talks resigns after being implicated in corruption probe. Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff resigns after raid on his home by Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies, ‘The Guardian’ writes.

Yermak’s resignation just hours after his property was raided by anti-corruption agencies is clearly at attempt to quickly move past the controversy which comes at what is probably the worst possible moment for Ukraine as it faces growing pressure from allies and enemies alike, and in particular from the increasingly impatient US administration under Donald Trump.

But let’s make no mistake: this is a massive, massive moment for Zelenskyy and Ukraine, ‘The Guardian’ stresses.

A top Ukrainian official at the heart of peace talks resigned on Friday after being thrust into the center of a massive corruption scandal, threatening to further weaken Zelenskyy at a crucial moment in negotiations to end the war, NBC News reports.

Andriy Yermak's, Zelenskyy’s powerful chief of staff, decision to quit came hours after his home was searched early Friday by investigators with Ukraine’s National Anticorruption Bureau, the NABU, which is leading the $100 million kickback probe involving the country’s energy sector.

Zelenskyy said in a later video statement that Yermak had handed in his resignation and he was looking for his replacement.

The shocking development capped a dramatic week, which began with Kyiv under intense pressure from President Donald Trump to endorse a plan that initially offered Moscow its core hardline demands.

Ukrainian negotiators, led by Yermak, secured changes and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff will now head to Russia for talks next week. It's unclear if Yermak will continue to participate in the talks or whether he will remain his country's top negotiator.

In a post on Facebook early Friday, NABU said that its investigators, along with those from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, SAPO, were “conducting investigative actions” into the president’s chief of staff.

It comes after weeks of mounting pressure on Zelenskyy to fire Yermak, who has been a steady right hand to the Ukrainian president throughout four years of war.

Speculation has long swirled that Yermak could be embroiled in the scandal, which has fueled public anger and been seized on by the Kremlin to try to undermine Ukraine's leadership.

Friday's searches make him the highest-ranked government official to be implicated by NABU so far.

Yermak has been a constant presence next to Zelenskyy through the ups and downs of the war, and has emerged as one of the few men that the Ukrainian leader appeared to really trust.

Critics have said for years that Yermak had accumulated too much power and wielded excessive influence over Zelenskyy.

Ukraine is facing immense pressure from the U.S. to accept a deal to end the war, but Kyiv and its allies in Europe have pushed back against Kremlin demands that Ukraine cede key territory it still holds in the east.

While saying that he was ready for "serious" talks, Vladimir Putin told reporters Thursday that Russia had the upper hand across the front lines and fighting would only stop when Ukrainian troops withdraw from the territories they hold. “If they don’t withdraw, we will achieve this by force,” he said.

He has accused Zelenskyy and his officials of sitting on “golden pots” and not caring about ordinary Ukrainians, though Putin and his entourage have themselves been subject of numerous corruption investigations in the past.

Vladimir Putin also said Thursday that it was "pointless" to sign a deal with a Ukrainian government that he said had lost its legitimacy because it did not hold elections last year while martial law was in effect.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russia still wants to move toward peace with Ukraine despite its belief that Zelenskyy was not a legitimate leader.

Zelenskyy and Yermak, who was always at hand.
Photo: AFP

Investigators focus attention on to Andriy Yermak as part of inquiry into nuclear energy kickback scandal, ‘The Guardian’ writes.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies have said they are conducting searches Friday at the home of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s powerful chief aide and lead negotiator in the latest round of peace talks, Andriy Yermak.

Journalists filmed about 10 investigators entering Kyiv’s government quarter in a widening of the investigation into a nuclear energy kickback scandal allegedly run by an associate of the Ukrainian president who has fled the country.

The national anti-corruption bureau (NABU) said both it and the specialised anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, Sapo, were “conducting investigative actions at the head of the office of the president of Ukraine”.

Yermak is considered the second most powerful figure in Ukraine after Zelenskyy and runs the president’s office, through which the leader’s political affairs are channeled. In a short statement, Yermak confirmed that searches were ongoing at his home.

The scandal first emerged earlier in November, but after days of damaging revelations, it dropped down the news agenda when Donald Trump unexpectedly released a pro-Russian 28-point peace plan.

But Friday’s developments will thrust the scandal back into the spotlight just as Ukraine had been carefully wooing the White House on a 19-point counterproposal, with Yermak fronting talks in Geneva with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio.

Earlier in November, investigators from NABU said they had uncovered a high-level criminal scheme at the heart of government. Insiders allegedly received kickbacks of 10-15% from commercial partners of Energoatom, the state-owned nuclear power generator and Ukraine’s most important energy supplier.

Yermak is Zelenskiy’s closest ally, and has been head of the president’s office since 2020. Last week, Zelenskiy rebuffed pressure from lawmakers from his party to dismiss Yermak as part of the graft scandal that already forced out two government ministers, Bloomberg reveals.

The discontent with Zelenskiy’s top aide peaked after an attempt in July to curb the influence of anti-corruption bodies sparked street protests and forced the Zelenskiy to change course under pressure from Ukraine’s key western allies.

The scrutiny of Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, could disrupt U.S.-led peace talks and further rattle Ukrainian politics, ‘The New York Times’ stresses.

Now, just as negotiations are set to resume with a return visit to Kyiv by the U.S. Army secretary, Daniel P. Driscoll, the corruption case has returned to the headlines, ensnaring the very man Mr. Zelensky has entrusted with protecting Ukraine’s interests.

Mr. Yermak, a former movie producer and lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights, has been a close political ally of Mr. Zelensky throughout the war that started when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. In the political sphere in Kyiv, Mr. Yermak became a feared hatchet man known for removing any government official who spoke out of turn or became too popular, a potential rival to him or to Mr. Zelensky.

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