Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, has amassed unprecedented power, shaping decisions across parliament, the Cabinet, and key state bodies. (Lisa Litvinenko/The Kyiv Independent)
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, has consolidated an unprecedented level of power within Ukraine’s government — wielding influence across parliament, the Cabinet, and key state institutions.
Despite his dominance, however, Yermak has remained a controversial figure, often viewed with skepticism both inside Ukraine and abroad.
Yermak’s reach extends into law enforcement through trusted deputies and places him at the center of high-level diplomatic meetings, frequently sidelining Ukraine’s traditional foreign service.
His role as Zelensky’s gatekeeper has made him indispensable, but also a subject of ridicule and frustration among allies, who complain that his ubiquity far outstrips his skills.
“We have to deal with him, he’s Zelensky’s man,” a senior European official told the Kyiv Independent. “We don’t have a choice.”
Another European diplomat, when discussing the strained Ukraine-U.S. relationship and potential paths forward, said that “anything is better than sending Yermak (to Washington) again.”
Both officials said Yermak isn’t looked upon favorably in Brussels and Washington. In Ukraine, his reputation is somehow even worse.
Yermak’s far-reaching powers and desire for control have been widely discussed among Ukrainian and foreign officials. Those who spoke with the Kyiv Independent have said with confidence that it was him who pulled the trigger on the recent attack against the country’s anti-corruption institutions.
The same people point to Yermak’s role as one of the reasons the attack failed.
Yermak did not respond to requests for comment.
Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, participates in a forum with heads of state institutions in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 27, 2024. (Viktor Kovalchuk / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Now, as Ukraine has been shaken with the biggest corruption scandal of Zelensky’s presidency, with the president’s inner circle implicated, Yermak is in the hot seat — even though he was not named among the accused.
The Kyiv Independent sources have said that, as the president is scrambling to save face, he is finally considering letting Yermak go.
“Andriy Yermak is so influential and is so deep in so many issues inside the country, that it is impossible for such a large-scale corruption scheme to operate without (his) deep knowledge and understanding,” Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center, told the Kyiv Independent.
“For the president to prove that he’s not part of the scheme and he’s not corrupt, he needs to get rid of all these inner circle corrupt friends. As simple as that,” she added.
“Including Mr. Yermak.”
Biggest corruption scandal of Zelensky’s presidency is in his own ranks
Sinking ship?
Yermak’s notorious omnipresence may be what finally sinks him: According to the Kyiv Independent’s source close to the ongoing large-scale corruption investigation that shook Ukraine last week, the president’s chief of staff comes up in it, too.
Within the investigation, the Anti-Corruption Bureau has published tapes alleging that the president’s friends and top government officials had been laundering money and getting kickbacks from state contracts. Over $100 million has allegedly been laundered.
The alleged ringleader was Timur Mindich, a close associate of Zelensky and a co-owner of the president’s former Kvartal 95 production company. Mindich had called Yermak “his friend” in the past.
Mindich was tipped off and left the country before he could be detained.
Those implicated also include Zelensky’s associate and former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov, Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko, who served as energy minister until earlier this year, Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk, and Rustem Umerov, former defense minister and current secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.
(L-R) Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko, a film producer and co-owner of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Kvartal 95 production company, Timur Mindich, and Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk are involved in Ukraine’s ongoing corruption scandal. (Getty Images/Social media/Collage by the Kyiv Independent)
The investigators made it clear that the released part isn’t all they have, and the country has been guessing who else could have been involved.
According to the Kyiv Independent source in law enforcement, some of the money from the scheme was used to cover the construction of four lavish houses outside Kyiv, overseen by Chernyshov. One of the houses, the source claimed, was meant for Yermak.
The Kyiv Independent reached out to Yermak for comment.
Corruption, illicit enrichment, and bribery have surrounded Yermak’s office for years.
Yermak’s former deputy, Andriy Smyrnov, has been charged with illicit enrichment, money laundering, and bribery, and two other former deputies — Kyrylo Tymoshenko and Rostyslav Shurma — have been investigated in corruption cases but have not been officially charged.
During Yermak’s tenure, some of his associates have also accumulated significant wealth.
Artem Kolyubayev, a film producer and former business partner of Yermak, has drastically expanded his business empire during Yermak’s time in the office, investing in real estate and drone production, according to a 2023 investigation by Bihus.info.
Kolyubayev also became the head of the Council for the State Support of Cinematography in 2021 and received state funding for his films during the full-scale invasion.
For Yermak’s critics, corruption cases against his top subordinates and allies and the President’s Office’s reluctance to fire officials charged with corruption show that either Yermak tolerates corruption or is implicated himself.
“It’s not a secret that personnel decisions in the country, both in the President’s Office and in the government, also in state-owned companies, are impossible without Andriy Yermak,” Kaleniuk said.
A source in law enforcement told the Kyiv Independent that they don’t expect Yermak to be fired, despite reports to the contrary.
“What will (Zelensky) do without Yermak?” they asked with a smile.
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Zelensky needs a Yermak
Acquainted with Yermak since 2010, the president became the sole golden ticket that brought the former lawyer and film producer with no prior political experience to the summit of power.
Yermak rose through the ranks by picking up workstreams above his area of expertise and making sure that the president’s view is executed and unchallenged.
“He presented himself as someone absolutely devoted to the president — as the perfect executor,” political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told the Kyiv Independent. “His main goal is to become the most acceptable, comfortable, and effective tool for Zelensky. He does not claim any special role for himself.”
Taking over the president’s foreign agenda and taking over dealings with Russia and the U.S., Yermak was able to earn the president’s wholehearted trust.
“Yermak is the main button on Zelensky’s remote control.”
Eventually, Yermak was appointed as the president’s chief of staff in 2020, replacing his flamboyant predecessor Andriy Bohdan.
He hasn’t let go of the president’s ear ever since.
The secret to Yermak’s influence is that he panders to Zelensky’s wishes, which keeps him in a psychologically comforting state, a former President’s Office employee told the Kyiv Independent.
“Yermak’s strength is that he portrays himself as the ideal operator who gets things done,” Fesenko told the Kyiv Independent. “Yermak is the main button on Zelensky’s remote control.”
He added that Yermak implements Zelensky’s wishes even if he disagrees with them and that his “power lies in always being near the president and carrying out whatever he says.”
Yermak is also convenient for Zelensky because he takes the heat upon himself, absorbing public criticism, another former employee said.
Step by step, Yermak has been accumulating unprecedented power, de facto becoming Ukraine’s second-in-command after the president.
President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) and Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff (L), at UN headquarters in New York City, U.S. on Sept. 23, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
People who used to work in the President’s Office told the Kyiv Independent that Zelensky is not deeply involved in the daily mechanics of governance, with Yermak being largely responsible for managing the practical aspects of administration and actual governing.
One of the sources described Zelensky as the chief executive officer who sets strategy, and Yermak as the chief operating officer who controls and executes.
One example of this power dynamic is that Zelensky sets the goal of acquiring military aid from allies, and Yermak meets top Western officials to implement the strategy.
Despite Yermak’s immense power, he is not acting independently from Zelensky — in contrast with his predecessor Bohdan, former employees of the President’s Office told the Kyiv Independent.
One of the sources described Zelensky and Yermak as “yin and yang” and quipped that they are one entity, not two.
Fesenko argued that Yermak is unlikely to launch a career independent from the president.
“Yermak is the number two,” Fesenko said. “He chose that role a long time ago. He understands that his peak is to be Zelensky’s right-hand man, his main instrument. That’s his ceiling.”
One of the reasons for this dependence on Zelensky is Yermak’s unpopularity. Only 17.5% Ukrainians trusted Yermak, and 67% distrusted him, according to a poll published by the Razumkov Center in March.
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Accumulating unprecedented power
One reason why the President’s Office wields so much power is that Zelensky’s Servant of the People party obtained 254 out of 450 seats in the 2019 parliamentary elections, the most recent to date.
In contrast, Zelensky’s predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, did not hold a parliamentary majority and had to form a coalition with other parties, which limited his power.
Another reason is that, due to Russia’s full-scale invasion, the incumbent administration got unprecedented wartime powers with the implementation of martial law in 2022.
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Volodymyr Ariev, a lawmaker from Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party and an opponent of Zelensky, argued that the current President’s Office has effectively usurped power.
“Everything is controlled by the President’s Office,” he told the Kyiv Independent. “The President’s Office decides everything, not parliament or the Cabinet.”
Fesenko said that “the influence of the parliamentary opposition is the weakest since Ukraine became independent.” He added that the opposition was much stronger even under the notorious pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, ousted during the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution.
As a result, it’s the President’s Office that handpicks ministers and tells lawmakers what laws to support, lawmakers from Zelensky’s governing party told the Kyiv Independent.
In July, the Cabinet was reshuffled, and Yulia Svyrydenko replaced Denys Shmyhal as prime minister.
Yulia Svyrydenko (L) applauds Denys Shmyhal (R) after the Verkhovna Rada accepted Denys Shmyhal’s resignation as Prime Minister of Ukraine on July 16, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Andrii Nesterenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Although Shmyhal was not an independent figure, Svyrydenko is considered to be close specifically to Yermak, opposition lawmakers Yaroslav Yurchyshyn and Yaroslav Zheleznyak told the Kyiv Independent.
Svyrydenko was Yermak’s deputy from 2020 to 2021 and later joined the government.
Fesenko said that Svyrydenko had earned the trust of Yermak and Zelensky by successfully negotiating a minerals deal with Trump’s team earlier this year. She is seen as more effective and devoted than Shmyhal.
“It’s not just loyalty — it’s true devotion,” he added, describing Svyrydenko. “When she’s given assignments, she carries them out meticulously. The bosses like that.”
Proteges and associates of Yermak also lead the tax, customs and financial monitoring agencies, as well as the Anti-Monopoly Committee and the State Property Fund, according to the news outlets Ukrainska Pravda and Dzerkalo Tyzhnia.
“…it is no secret that the government was formed mainly after certain candidates were approved in the President’s Office.”
Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s board of directors, argued that the monopolization of power in the hands of Yermak and the President’s Office is unprecedented.
After the recent corruption scandal, however, Zelensky’s party began to protest.
“It’s a huge blow, but the worst part of it is that I’m not sure that we are at the end of it, it might still be unfolding,” a pro-government Ukrainian lawmaker speaking on condition of anonymity told the Kyiv Independent.
“I believe that the resignation of Mr. Yermak in this case would definitely bring down this certain agitation around the government, because it is no secret that the government was formed mainly after certain candidates were approved in the President’s Office,” pro-government lawmaker Fedir Venislavskyi said on Nov. 18.
Running the law enforcement apparatus
The President’s Office’s control is not limited to the legislative and executive branches — law enforcement and the judiciary are also under Yermak’s thumb.
The central figure accused of running the law enforcement system in the interests of the President’s Office is Zelensky’s Deputy Chief of Staff Oleh Tatarov.
Tatarov allegedly maintains influence over the State Investigation Bureau, the National Police, and the Security Service of Ukraine, according to anti-corruption activists and journalist investigations.
Although there have been reports on an alleged conflict between Yermak and Tatarov, the Kyiv Independent’s sources in law enforcement did not outright confirm that such a conflict influences their power dynamic.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak (R) and his controversial deputy Oleh Tatarov (L) in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 12, 2023. (Kaniuka Ruslan / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
The sources argued that Zelensky and Yermak desperately needed Tatarov because they saw him as the only person who knew Ukraine’s law enforcement system well enough to run it in their interests. The sources described Tatarov as “clever” and “professional.”
This might explain why Zelensky and Yermak have refused to suspend or fire Tatarov despite corruption scandals and controversies surrounding him.
Tatarov was charged in 2020 with giving a bribe to an official before he joined the President’s Office. Prosecutors and courts obstructed the case, and it was eventually closed in 2022.
However, Yermak is gradually sidelining his powerful deputy.
The new Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, appointed in June, is seen as a Yermak protégé, according to anti-corruption activists and pro-government lawmakers.
“Ruslan Kravchenko, who was appointed in summer this year with one goal to dismantle the independence of NABU and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), directly reports to Andriy Yermak,” Kaleniuk said.
In July, Kravchenko authorized sweeping searches at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). The next day, Zelensky signed a law that subordinated the NABU to the prosecutor general, a political appointee.
Ukrainian politician and prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko speaks during a plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 17, 2025. (Andrii Nesterenko / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
The bureau’s independence was later restored following street protests and pressure from Brussels.
The crackdown on the NABU and SAPO was spearheaded by Yermak, according to Yurchyshyn, Zheleznyak, and two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Yurchyshyn argued that cases against Zelensky’s inner circle “undermined Yermak’s authority and weakened his position.” Months later, they did just that.
Spearheading foreign policy
Yermak’s reach in domestic affairs is endless. Yet, what the all-powerful chief of staff truly enjoys is running the country’s foreign policy, according to officials and diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Yermak became Ukraine’s chief negotiator with Russia in 2019, after Zelensky was elected president and unsuccessfully attempted to bring the war with Russia to an end.
Yermak was in close contact with Dmitry Kozak, who was then Russia’s chief negotiator and President Vladimir Putin’s deputy chief of staff.
During the full-scale invasion, Yermak became Zelensky’s go-to person for foreign policy. He constantly met foreign leaders and was in constant contact with ex-U.S. President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
“The influence of the President’s Office on foreign policy is bigger than ever,” Fesenko said, attributing this to an uptick in the Zelensky administration’s foreign activity due to the war.
Then-U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) and Andriy Yermak, head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine (R), attend a press briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 20, 2024. (Vladimir Shtanko / Anadolu via Getty Images)
Fesenko argued that Yermak is focusing on foreign policy because “it’s a key priority for Zelensky.”
“What Zelensky likes is what defines Yermak’s direction,” he added.
Yermak gradually pushed aside the country’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, eventually replacing him in 2024 with Andriy Sybiha, who had been a deputy of Yermak.
Politico reported then, citing insiders, that Kuleba had irritated Yermak, who wanted more control over the Foreign Ministry.
Members of Trump’s team do not want to talk to Yermak.
After Donald Trump was re-elected in 2024, Yermak’s fortunes took a hit.
Members of Trump’s team do not want to talk to Yermak, several sources told the Kyiv Independent. He is seen as partisan due to his ties to Sullivan, while his role isn’t clearly defined.
Nonetheless, Zelensky continues to send him to spearhead international negotiations in Turkey, France, the U.K., and the U.S.
Politico reported in June, citing 10 people familiar with his interactions, that U.S. officials had “found Yermak to be uninformed about U.S. politics, abrasive and overly demanding with U.S. officials.”
Yermak “struggled to secure meetings with senior Trump administration officials,” and several meetings were canceled, according to Politico.
Yermak’s desire to lead important talks and his misfortunes have become a joke in Kyiv, with the fact that Zelensky’s chief of staff is the least desired negotiator for key Ukrainian allies being an open secret and a topic of conversation at nearly every political gathering.
“Yermak just really likes to travel, apparently,” one senior European diplomat told the Kyiv Independent during an informal conversation.
No one left to challenge Yermak
It is believed, however, that Yermak is well aware of the situation. His response? Push out anyone who questions him, shows political potential, or brings bad news.
Several sources told the Kyiv Independent that Zelensky and Yermak do not tolerate people who are too ambitious and stand out.
One of the most notable examples was Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. He was fired in 2024 and appointed ambassador to the U.K., deemed to be an honorable exile from Kyiv.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief and current ambassador to the U.K. in London, United Kingdom, on Feb. 24, 2025. (Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Zaluzhnyi was sidelined after he became increasingly popular and was considered a potential competitor for Zelensky in a future presidential election.
Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov was also fired in 2024. He was once seen as a top candidate for the prime minister’s job.
Sources told the Kyiv Independent that Kubrakov was dismissed due to perceptions that he was overly ambitious, acted autonomously, and maintained direct contact with the U.S. embassy.
Among the officials that Yermak has allegedly been trying to push out is Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
In 2024, drone purchases for the army were transferred from Fedorov’s ministry to the Cabinet. Anti-corruption activists then accused Yermak of trying to sideline Fedorov in order to control drone purchases himself.
With few other voices left around Zelensky, Yermak has been running the show.
“The thinking in the president’s head is shaped by a single person,” Shabunin said. “And even if Zelensky were a governance genius, that would still be a disaster.”
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