Top boss resigns after raid: “A big blow”

Andrij Jermak

Zelenskyj’s chief of staff resigns – after raid: “Domestic setback”

Albin Almqvist

Updated 18.52 | Published 16.22

 

Andrij Yermak resigns as chief of staff. Photo: Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine/AP

Volodymyr Zelenskyj’s closest man, Andrij Yermak, resigns.

The announcement comes just hours after a raid on the chief of staff’s home – due to suspicions of corruption.

– This weakens Zelenskyj, says Ukraine expert Fredrik Wesslau.

Earlier on Friday, Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Agency (NABU) carried out a raid on Yermak’s home and office.

The chief of staff is suspected of being involved in the corruption scandal in the Ukrainian energy sector that has previously forced the country's justice minister and energy minister to resign. Now Zelenskyy has announced in a televised speech that Andrij Jermak is voluntarily leaving his post.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: Eduardo Parra/AP

"A domestic political setback"

That another top name in the government is associated with the corruption scandal does not look good, says Fredrik Wesslau, a researcher at the Center for Eastern European Studies and a Ukraine expert.

- This will be a domestic political setback. There have been demands for Yermak to be fired for a while. Now Zelenskyy has probably realized that he had no choice but to let him go. You can't have a head of the presidential administration who is suspected of being part of a large corruption scandal, he says.

Andriy Yermak is one of Zelenskyy's closest men, has been chief of staff since 2020 and has a key position in the peace negotiations with the US.

- As chief of staff, he has had the second most powerful position in the country after the president. His role is very much about translating Zelenskyy's will into action in the presidential administration and in the government, says Wesslau and continues:

- He has also been the head of the Ukrainian delegation that handles the peace negotiations and he has probably had the most contact with the White House of all.

 

Fredrik Wesslau, researcher at the Center for East European Studies. Photo: Pressbild Ui

How does this affect the negotiations then?

- On the whole, I don't think it will affect that much. Domestically, it is a big blow, but in foreign policy, the government must continue to hold the line. They will appoint someone new to carry out the role and take the negotiations forward, says Fredrik Wesslau