Yermak era over: Why Zelenskyy fired head of his office and what's next

Key questions

• How did the final conversation between Zelenskyy and Yermak go?
• Why did Zelenskyy ultimately decide to dismiss the head of the Presidential Office?
• What are the chances of the main contenders for this position?
• How did Servant of the People react to Yermak's dismissal?

"He was my friend before this job, and I will consider him my friend after it," said Andriy Yermak about Volodymyr Zelenskyy, summing up an entire political era in Ukraine's recent history. Yermak was with Zelenskyy even before he entered politics, and he spent more time in the chair of the head of the Presidential Office than any of his predecessors – almost six years.

The public emotionality of the rift between Yermak and Zelenskyy underscores that this was not just a political alliance—the President and the head of his Office were also very close friends who had been through a lot together. And the final conversation between them, on the eve of his resignation, according to informed sources at RBC-Ukraine, was a tough one.

At one point, the man who was constantly referred to behind his back as the vice president or simply the second (the first being Zelenskyy himself) found himself outside the system that he himself had methodically built over the years. After talking to various sources in the government, RBC-Ukraine tells how the most high-profile resignation in recent years happened and what its consequences will be.

Mindichgate and more

"The first seeds of Yermak's resignation were sown during the cardboard protests," says a source close to the President. At that time, the head of the Presidential Office, whom many in political circles considered to be the real instigator of the attack on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP), was on a business trip abroad.

At that moment, according to a number of sources, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov came up with the idea of dismissing the head of the Presidential Office, who had accumulated too much negative publicity over the years. The idea was rejected, but, according to the interlocutor, the Overton window opened — previously, no one in power had dared to even suggest dismissing Yermak.

First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov (photo: t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official)

A new reason appeared quite soon, with the start of Mindichgate. As the scandal gained momentum, a whole coalition of those eager to see the head of the Office of the President resign formed among the ruling elite.

"It's hard to say who wasn't in this coalition among those whom Zelenskyy listens to and whose voice carries weight," says an RBC-Ukraine source. The Verkhovna Rada was also in turmoil, with both the opposition and Servant of the People making private and even public calls for Yermak's resignation.

The climax came last week at a meeting between the Servant of the People faction and Zelenskyy, as reported in detail by RBC-Ukraine. However, the numerous revolutionaries were disappointed when Zelenskyy stated that, without specific arguments in favor of Yermak's dismissal, nothing would happen. At that time, the head of the Presidential Office was only vaguely involved in the Mindichgate scandal, playing the role of a certain Ali Baba.

Now, in retrospect, Servant of the People believes that the meeting dealt another blow to Yermak's position. In particular, on the eve of the meeting, deputies were asked to fill out an anonymous form with questions they would like to ask Zelenskyy (and then the collected data was run through ChatGPT). The vast majority of questions concerned the head of the Office of the President, which did not go unnoticed by Zelenskyy.

However, after the meeting with Zelenskyy, a counterrevolution almost took hold for a short period of time. Several RBC-Ukraine interlocutors claim that law enforcement agencies were instructed to actively work on everyone involved in the rebellion, from anti-corruption activists to the head of the Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamia. However, other interlocutors say they have not heard anything about this. Everyone agrees that both Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Chairman Vasyl Malyuk decided not to get involved in this story at all.

"But if all this had dragged on for months, then, probably, everyone would have been caught up in it," says a source in the Servant of People.

For several days, the Mindichgate scandal took a back seat to the turbulent peace talks on the political agenda, until Friday morning, when the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) arrived at Yermak's office to search. Later that evening, Zelenskyy publicly announced his resignation.

"The President realized that he had to change the queen, otherwise he could lose the whole game, especially against the backdrop of the Americans and all this," says one of RBC-Ukraine's interlocutors.

According to another source, the resignation was a difficult and unexpected blow for Yermak himself, but there were no screams or other emotions, as reported in the media. When the decision was made, Yermak immediately wrote a letter of resignation and quickly packed his things. The next day, he returned to Bankova Street, but just to talk—after all, he and Zelenskyy have a long history together.

"The last straw was that changes were needed, and there was no point in digging in further. And it's not just about the scandal, but also about the relationships within the team; it's much broader than that," says an informed source.

List of candidates

Currently, the Office of the President remains without a leader, and Zelenskyy has not immediately appointed another person to replace Yermak. As sources in the government explain, this is because the President is currently looking for a new format for the Office's work.

Of course, he will largely determine who will become the new head of the Office. Sources at RBC-Ukraine name several of the most likely and discussed candidates.

Specifically, these are Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal, First Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, Head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Directorate Kyrylo Budanov, and Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Pavlo Palisa. "These three people are the ones the President thought of right away, and Palisa has proven himself well in his work," says RBC-Ukraine's source.

Prime Minister OF Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko has also been mentioned in the media as a possible candidate for a couple of weeks, but, according to the agency's sources, her appointment is unlikely—she has been in office for only a few months, and the government does not want to change the Prime Minister again.

RBC-Ukraine's sources have different opinions about the chances of other candidates. According to one of them, it is difficult to imagine Budanov as head of the President's Office – the chief intelligence officer has long been an independent political figure with his own ambitions.

He also does not rate Colonel Palisa's chances very highly. "It seems to me that Zelenskyy has already decided that he himself, with the help of the Foreign Ministry and other structures, should deal with foreign affairs, rather than the head of the Office. Accordingly, the head of the Office of the President is responsible for domestic policy. So, in any case, it has to be a high-level person who will be looked up to by the elites, otherwise they will simply eat him alive," explains the interlocutor.

Pavlo Palisa and Volodymyr Zelenskyy (photo: t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official)

However, according to another informed source, these four candidates, with whom Zelenskyy held meetings on Saturday at Bankova Street, are not the only ones on the list – there are two more contenders for the position of head of the Office of the President. In any case, Zelenskyy is currently abroad, and the appointment of the head of the Office of the President should not be expected before Wednesday.

Expectations and shock

Yermak's resignation has created a large vacuum within the government – in just over five years, his people have found themselves virtually everywhere, from Ministries and supervisory boards to almost the national football team (the latter is only partly a joke).

According to one of RBC-Ukraine's interlocutors, their future now depends on two factors: their ability to prove their usefulness and the presence or absence of problems with anti-corruption agencies. Ultimately, the interlocutor believes, some people will be dismissed, while others will remain, reorienting themselves toward new centers of influence.

In the short term, personnel changes at the top depend on whether someone from the Cabinet of Ministers will take over as head of the Presidential Office, thereby triggering new reshuffles. Until that happens, the personnel plans of the lawmakers for this week are limited to filling one of two vacancies in the Cabinet of Ministers—they plan to appoint the head of the parliamentary committee on legal policy, Denys Maslov, to the post of Minister of Justice. The post of Minister of Energy remains vacant for now—they cannot find a suitable candidate.

To appoint Maslov and, more importantly, to adopt the state budget, the Rada must regain its functionality. Most Servant of the People deputies, according to the faction, received the news of Yermak's dismissal with relief. For some, it came as a surprise and even a real shock, while for others it was entirely expected.

In any case, after the number one requirement was met, the chances of the state budget being adopted on Tuesday increased significantly. But there is no euphoria among the deputies either — the list of problems and complaints cannot be solved by one resignation.

"The overall goal has been achieved; now everyone will start pushing their own agenda," says a source in the Servant of the People party.

New atmosphere

Mindichgate is, of course, not over yet; it could still provoke new high-profile scandals with further resignations, but the political peak has clearly passed.

"The involvement of NABU and SAPO in this process means that this is no longer just a personal battle for influence, as it always has been in our country. It is now about the system of checks and balances, and even, to some extent, about values," says a source in the President's circle.

According to him, now, taking advantage of the window of opportunity, Zelenskyy will try to partially restart the state mechanism and try to restore the atmosphere of unity in the team, in particular by delegating responsibility, first and foremost, to parliament and the government.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Andriy Yermak (photo: president.gov.ua)

Among other functions, Yermak served as a lightning rod for Zelenskyy for several years, taking the lion's share of negative attention, both deserved and undeserved. Now that the lightning rod is gone, the new head of the Presidential Office, whoever he may be, is unlikely to take on that role.

"Of course, we will not return to 2019; too much has been broken and cannot be repaired. But the overall climate in the team will certainly be healthier," says a source in the Presidential circle.