Russian invasion Corruption in Ukraine

Yermak after resignation: Zelensky remains my friend

Volodymyr Zelensky's outgoing chief of staff Andriy Yermak holds no ill will towards the president, he tells the Financial Times.

– He was my friend before this job and will remain so after, he tells the Financial Times.

On February 24, 2022, when Russia's full-scale invasion began, Yermak was seen by Zelensky's side in the famous nighttime clip from the streets of Kyiv in which the president assures that the resistance is intact.

Since then, they have been inseparable – their mornings often began with a joint workout in Zelensky's basement gym. Yermak has been the president's right-hand man and Ukraine's second most powerful politician throughout the war.

Many analysts now predict that his resignation, and the corruption scandal that forced it, will weaken Zelensky domestically. 

Resigning Chief of Staff Vows to Go to the Front Line

Top Ukrainian official Andriy Yermak plans to go to the front line. He wrote this in a message to the New York Post after it was announced that he was resigning as Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff.

“I am going to the front and I am ready for anything. I am an honest and honorable person,” he wrote.

Yermak resigned after being implicated in the major corruption scandal surrounding the nuclear power company Energoatom. Officially, he resigned, but in practice, he was fired by Zelensky. The president had signed an order to dismiss Yermak from his post.

“I have been dragged into the dirt and my honor has not been protected,” he wrote.