Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that his influential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, has resigned hours after anti-corruption authorities raided his Kyiv apartment. This shakeup threatens to complicate fragile peace talks with the U.S. and Russia.
Yermak, who has wielded outsized power as Zelenskyy’s top aide since 2020 and led recent negotiations in Geneva, reportedly stepped down amid a sprawling energy sector scandal that has already toppled two ministers and drawn scrutiny from Western allies. He faces no formal charges but has endured weeks of public backlash and calls for his ouster.
“I want no one to have any questions about Ukraine today. Therefore, today we have the following internal decisions. First, there will be a reboot of the Office of the President of Ukraine. The head of the office, Andriy Yermak, has written a letter of resignation,” Zelenskyy said on Friday in his daily address outside the presidential office on Bankova Street, CNN reported.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office searched Yermak’s government quarters early Friday but offered no details on the probe. Yermak, 54, posted on Telegram that investigators faced “no obstacles” and had “full access to the apartment,” adding that his lawyers were on site.
The raids cap a corruption investigation into an alleged $100 million kickback scheme involving state-owned energy firms like Enerhoatom. Authorities have detained several suspects and linked the graft to projects meant to shield Ukraine’s power grid from Russian strikes, which have left millions enduring rolling blackouts this winter.
Zelenskyy, who campaigned in 2019 on rooting out corruption, has fired Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko in recent weeks. One of his former business partners from his entertainment days, Timur Mindich, has fled the country amid the allegations.
“I’m grateful to Andriy that Ukraine’s position on the negotiating track was always presented as required: it was always a patriotic position,” Zelenskyy said, the BBC reported.
He plans consultations on Saturday on a successor, stressing the need for “inner strength” amid diplomacy and war.
The timing could not be worse. U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is due in Kyiv by week’s end as part of President Donald Trump’s push for a 28-point peace plan, which Ukraine and European partners have criticized as overly favorable to Moscow. Talks resume soon, with a U.S. team set to head to Moscow next week.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who backs a Hungarian proposal to host a Trump-Putin summit in Budapest, reiterated Thursday that fighting ends only if Ukrainian forces quit the entire Donbas region, including cities still under Kyiv’s control.
“If they don’t withdraw, we’ll achieve this by force of arms,” he said, per the BBC.
Yermak, in an interview hours before the raid, pushed back against U.S. pressure for territorial concessions.
“As long as Zelenskyy is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory,” he told The Atlantic.
Zelenskyy urged national unity in his address, warning that infighting plays into Russia’s hands.
“We risk losing everything: ourselves, Ukraine, our future,” he said, according to the BBC. “Russia wants Ukraine to make mistakes – there won’t be any mistakes from our side. Our work continues, our fight continues. We have no right… to retreat, to quarrel [among ourselves].”
The scandal has eroded Yermak’s standing, with polls showing 70% of Ukrainians favoring his exit. Critics, including lawmakers from Zelenskyy’s own party, decried his unelected influence even before the graft probe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday that Moscow is closely watching the turmoil.
“What we see is that the corruption scandal and uncertainty, political uncertainty, that is caused by this scandal is growing and growing very fast day by day,” he said, per CNN.
European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho welcomed the investigations as proof that Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies “are doing their work.” Still, the EU — which Ukraine hopes to join — has raised persistent concerns about Kyiv’s reform commitments.
Zelenskyy and Yermak forged their bond 14 years ago, when the future leader was a media executive and Yermak his lawyer. On the invasion’s first night in 2022, they stood together outside the presidential office, defying Moscow.
“We are all here,” Zelenskyy told the nation, the BBC reported. “Our soldiers are here, the citizens are here and we are all here. We are defending our independence, and that’s how it will continue.”