President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday evening that his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, had resigned, hours after investigators searched Yermak’s apartment in the presidential compound in central Kyiv, against the backdrop of a corruption investigation shaking the country.
Yermak, seen as one of Ukraine’s most powerful figures and Zelensky’s right-hand man throughout the prolonged war with Russia, said he is fully cooperating with investigators. Zelensky said he accepted the resignation.
Beyond being Zelensky’s close confidant, Yermak also led Ukraine’s negotiating team, and his resignation comes at a critical moment. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressing Kyiv, with growing intensity in recent days, to reach a deal to end the war nearly four years after Russia’s invasion.
Two Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies raided Yermak’s apartment earlier on Friday and, according to reports, also searched his office. International media described the searches as “unprecedented” inside the presidential compound in Kyiv. A spokesman said the agencies did not tell the senior adviser whether he is a suspect or what the suspicions are, adding that no further information had been provided.
“The investigators encountered no obstacles,” Yermak wrote on Telegram. It was unclear where Yermak or Zelensky were during the searches.
The corruption case roiling Ukraine and entangling Zelensky
It remains unclear whether the searches are connected to a sweeping investigation led by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
The central suspect in that case is Tymur Mindich, until recently a close friend of Zelensky and once a key business partner. The scandal casts a large shadow over the president’s standing and leadership.
Investigators this month detailed suspicions that a criminal organization headed by Mindich embezzled about $100 million from Ukraine’s state nuclear power company and engaged in fraud and other financial crimes, with involvement by senior officials in Kyiv. Investigators believe Mindich was the mastermind.
Mindich has fled the country, and criminal proceedings against him are expected to take place in absentia. Two ministers have already resigned over the affair.
Although Yermak himself has not been accused of wrongdoing, several senior lawmakers from Zelensky’s party said he should take responsibility to restore public trust. Some warned that if Zelensky did not dismiss him, the party could splinter, threatening the president’s parliamentary majority. Zelensky continued to back his chief of staff until the resignation.
A long-standing relationship
Yermak, a Kyiv native who began his career as a lawyer before founding a media company, knew Zelensky long before Russia’s February 2022 invasion. They met in the early 2010s, when Zelensky was still an actor and comedian and Yermak was considered a rising star in local media.
He joined Zelensky’s political ascent when Zelensky ran for president in 2019. Yermak worked on the campaign and later cemented his place at the top of government. He survived multiple reshuffles and the resignations of several deputies despite broad public distrust of the official, who accumulated significant power over the years.
Trump said, 'I imposed massive sanctions on Putin, so that he and Zelenskyy will act rationally.'
(צילום: רויטרס)
Yermak became a central point of contact with the last two U.S. administrations, led by Joe Biden and Donald Trump. He helped broker prisoner exchanges and headed Ukraine’s side of negotiations on a potential agreement to end the war.
In an interview with The Atlantic published Thursday, Yermak said Zelensky’s decision to put him in charge of Ukraine’s negotiating team underscored the president’s confidence in him despite calls for his ouster. “The pressure is enormous,” he said in that interview. “He trusted me with negotiations that will decide the fate of our country.”
Despite the allegations and criticism surrounding him, Zelensky remains broadly popular. Reuters noted that Yermak’s departure could help strengthen support for Zelensky at home and among the international community during a period the president himself described a week ago as the most difficult in Ukraine’s history.