Zelensky’s chief of staff resigns after anti-corruption agencies raid his house and office

Andriy Yermak speaks to the press after a meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Kyiv, Ukraine, 20 March 2024. Photo: EPA / SERGEY DOLZHENKO

Andriy Yermak has resigned as the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday, just hours after the country’s two powerful anti-corruption agencies raided Yermak’s home and office.

In a brief video address posted on his Telegram channel, Zelensky said that although Yermak had “submitted his resignation”, he wanted to avoid “rumours or speculation” and that he would be “holding consultations” to select Yermak’s replacement on Saturday.

“I am grateful to Andriy for always representing Ukraine’s position in the negotiations exactly as it should be. He has always taken a patriotic position,” Zelensky said, stressing that Ukraine must be “strong internally” as the war continued, and added that 100% of the country’s strength would be focused on defending itself.

A former film producer who met the then popular TV actor Zelensky in 2011, Yermak worked on Zelensky’s 2019 presidential election campaign. After Zelensky beat incumbent Petro Poroshenko by a landslide, he made Yermak a presidential aide for foreign policy issues, before appointing him head of the Office of the President of Ukraine in February 2020, a role he has held for the past five years.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) have targeted Yermak in their investigation which resulted in his home and office being searched earlier on Friday.

According to Verkhovna Rada Deputy Oleksiy Goncharenko, NABU is preparing to press criminal charges against Yermak, though the nature of those charges has not been specified. However, a source in the anti-corruption agencies told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday that “nobody was notified of being a suspect” following the raid at Yermak’s home.

A major corruption scheme involving Zelensky’s close associate and former business partner, Timur Mindich, and several high-ranking Ukrainian officials, was revealed by NABU in November, which allegedly saw the officials profit from a kickback scheme at Ukrainian nuclear energy provider Energoatom.

Ukrainian Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk stepped down from their posts earlier this month in relation to the same corruption probe. Yermak, who said on Friday he cooperated with the investigative agencies, giving them “full access” to his apartment, has not commented on his resignation so far.