Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday that his top aide, Andriy Yermak, had resigned after investigators conducted a raid at the powerful chief of staff’s home as part of a broad corruption investigation.
"The Office of the President of Ukraine will be reorganised. The head of the office, Andriy Yermak, has submitted his resignation," Zelensky said in a video, where he added that he would meet on Saturday to discuss a potential successor, according to an AFP report.
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What is happening in Ukraine?
Searches inside Ukraine’s top offices have unfolded at a moment when Kyiv faces mounting pressure from Washington to negotiate a peace agreement, nearly four years into Russia’s invasion, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Ukraine’s two main anti-corruption bodies said their operations focused on Yermak.
{{/usCountry}}Ukraine’s two main anti-corruption bodies said their operations focused on Yermak.
{{/usCountry}}His spokesperson, Oleksii Tkachuk, stressed that investigators had not issued a notice of suspicion, meaning Yermak has not been named a suspect, and added that neither he nor Yermak had been told what the searches were about.
Yermak, one of Ukraine’s most influential power brokers and a central figure in negotiations with the US, confirmed that investigators entered his apartment within the presidential compound in central Kyiv.
This area has been tightly controlled and has restricted access.
Local media also reported that his office had been searched, though investigators did not confirm this.
'Investigators face no obstacles': Yermak
It remains unknown where Zelenskyy or Yermak were during the early-morning operation.
“The investigators are facing no obstacles,” Yermak said on Telegram, noting that he was fully cooperating and that his lawyers were present, according to the AP report.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the two agencies behind the raids, have been probing a major $100 million corruption scheme in the energy sector involving senior officials, a case that has dominated headlines in recent weeks.
Whether the searches targeting Yermak were linked to that corruption case remains unclear.