Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on Friday resignation of his chief of staff and aide Andrii Yermak after anti-corruption searches on his home and office earlier that day.
Zelenskiy announced the resignation in a video address posted online on Friday. Yermak is Zelenskiy’s right-hand man and had been leading negotiations with Washington to end nearly four years of war with Russia. The search in Yermak’s house came amid intense US intense pressure on Kyiv to end the war.
Two Ukrainian national anti-corruption bodies said their searches were directed at Yermak. According to Yermak’s spokesperson, Oleksii Tkachuk, investigators have not issued him a notice of suspicion, meaning he is not officially considered a suspect. Tkachuk also noted that Yermak has not been informed about the purpose of the searches. “The investigators are facing no obstacles,” Yermak wrote on Telegram. He added that he was cooperating fully with the investigators. It’s unknown where Zelenskiy and Yermak were during the raid.
Zelenskiy had long pushed back against demands for Yermak to step down, but the widely publicized searches of Yermak’s properties on Friday morning seemed to convince him that the allegations surrounding his chief of staff were becoming too damaging. In his address, he did not directly mention the raids or the claims, saying only that he decided to dismiss Yermak to “prevent rumors and speculation” that might undermine internal unity at a crucial moment.
