Why Andriy Yermak’s ouster is a political earthquake for Ukraine

Andriy Yermak’s exit as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s all-powerful chief of staff is a tectonic shift for Ukraine that sets the stage for a fierce battle over how the country is governed.

Nicknamed the “green cardinal” for wearing the military-inspired outfits his boss popularized, Yermak — a once little-known lawyer and B-movie producer — rose to wield immense influence as Zelenskyy’s top aide and was seen by many as virtually a co-president.

Opposition politicians will use his firing over a $100 million corruption scandal to press home their demand for a national unity government in Kyiv, something they’ve urged ever since Russia launched its full-scale invasion nearly four years ago, and Yermak’s exit will embolden those factions.

And there can be little doubt that Zelenskyy will miss the steely former attorney. Many Ukrainian commentators cast Yermak as the producer in the ruling duopoly — with the former TV comic-turned-president in the lead role. 

Now Zelenskyy will be without his producer as he prepares for fraught negotiations with the U.S. over President Donald Trump’s divisive “peace plan” to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, as winter sets in and Kremlin forces try to push their advantage on the grim battlefields of the Donbas.  

That said, Yermak won’t be widely mourned. His monopolization of power had drawn increasing criticism and frustration, both inside Ukraine and from Western allies.

Hardly surprisingly, Ukrainian opposition politicians and former officials who had tussled with Yermak welcomed the news of his exit, saying they hoped it would mark a major change in how Zelenskyy rules and a shift away from his tightly controlled style of governing.

“I didn’t believe it was possible that he would ever go,” said one former senior Ukrainian official, who asked not to be identified so as “not to be seen as dancing on Yermak’s grave.”

Critics of Yermak had also pointed to Zelenskyy’s ultimately aborted moves in the summer to curb the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies — a step that initially exacerbated fears the government was tightening its grip over institutions meant to check presidential power.

For opposition lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko, Yermak’s departure “shows that there’s zero tolerance for corruption and the president listens to the concerns of the people.” Others said his exit comes as a breath of fresh air. 

But some opposition lawmakers questioned whether Zelenskyy will seize the moment to pursue more inclusive politics.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze told POLITICO she remains unsure if the drama will change the way Zelenskyy governs. “Exactly that is the question. The way of governing has to go back to the constitution. Parliament has to regain its agency,” she said. 

“That means the president has to agree to talk to all factions, we have to review the relationship in the parliament and form a real government of national unity, which will be accountable to the parliament, not the presidential office,” she added. 

Iuliia Mendel, a Ukrainian journalist and former Zelenskyy adviser-turned-critic, told POLITICO that Yermak’s resignation was “a desperate reaction to unbearable pressure.”

“Zelenskyy has no real replacement ready because he never thought things would go this far. But the heat got so intense that it boiled down to the simplest choice: him or Yermak. And Zelenskyy picked himself,” she added.

But Mendel harbors some doubt that things will really change much. “Yermak might just stay the shadow puppeteer,” she warned.