What does Yermak’s dismissal mean amid the new season of the ‘peace deal’ series?

UKRAINE - In Brief 29 Nov 2025 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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It took three weeks for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to grasp that the dismissal of his Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak was inevitable. Zelenskiy tried to maneuver to protect his comrade, but the searches the National Anti-Corruption Bureau conducted in Yermak’s apartment became the final trigger, pushing Zelenskiy to move quickly with Yermak’s removal. It was a necessary step to address the internal political crisis, but it is likely insufficient, and further personnel decisions may follow. Over nearly six years as Chief of Staff, Andriy Yermak promoted dozens of personally loyal figures to top positions, including current Prime Minister Yuliya Svyrydenko, who is widely seen as closely aligned with him. There is strong public pressure to remove Yermak’s network, and this issue will likely continue to weigh on Zelenskiy in the coming weeks, with the Cabinet reshuffle a probable way to bring it to a close. Why was Andriy Yermak so important for Zelenskiy? Volodymyr Zelenskiy prefers to avoid complex issues and gravitates toward simple solutions. Yermak filled this gap by translating complicated matters into straightforward narratives and proposing options Zelenskiy found easy to work with. This arrangement gave Yermak significant influence, allowing him to advance loyal figures into key positions and securing unquestioned trust from the President. It also created a system in which appointments were driven primarily by loyalty, while professional competence was secondary. Regardless of qualifications, without personal loyalty to Yermak the chances of advancement were minimal. This affected the quality of governance and, as shown in the NABU tapes, was linked to large-scale...