Yermak lashed out at Zelenskyy in half-hour tirade before stepping down – UP sources

Andrii Yermak, former Head of the President's Office, did not believe until the very last moment that he would be forced to resign. So when he was asked to write a letter of resignation, he lashed out at President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an emotional outburst filled with reproaches and accusations.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda article Ali Baba and the Forty Statesmen: How Andrii Yermak lost his position as the president's right-hand man and avoided charges

Details: The article states that throughout his time as head of the President's Office, Yermak was fixated on appointing "his own" people to as many positions as possible.

Yet when it was crunch time for Yermak himself, not one of his appointees or protégés defended him – "even the person whose name and authority Yermak had effectively used to co-govern the state over the past years turned away."

The authors of the article also stress that Yermak contributed to this outcome himself, dispelling any lingering doubts Zelenskyy may have had about asking him to step down.

According to members of the president's team who spoke to Ukrainska Pravda, when Yermak was asked to write his resignation letter, "he unleashed a half-hour-long tirade against the president, filled with insults, reproaches and accusations".

"Yermak didn't believe until the very last moment that the top man [Zelenskyy – ed.] would remove him. Especially like this – presenting it as a fait accompli. Apparently what angered him most was the feeling that the president had abandoned him," a person from Yermak's inner circle told Ukrainska Pravda.

"For Zelenskyy the parting was clearly easier, though still far from pleasant. This isn't the first friend the president has had to remove from his team: there have been Andrii Bohdan, Ivan Bakanov, and even Serhii Shefir, who was like an elder brother to him. But for Yermak, this was his first such experience, which perhaps explains his emotional outburst," the article notes.

Most of the members of the president's team that Ukrainska Pravda spoke to agree that Zelenskyy seems to have returned to an earlier version of himself since Yermak stepped down.

"Now he's full of energy again. Very much like the president circa 24 February 2022," one team member told Ukrainska Pravda. "And we're all back with him. Saturday's meetings were very good. The motivation and focus were truly incredible."

Read more: St Andrew the First-Called Apostle: how Andrii Yermak became Zelenskyy's right-hand man

Background:

• On 28 November, Ukrainska Pravda reported that officers from NABU and SAPO were conducting searches at Yermak's office in the government district. Ukrainska Pravda journalists managed to record around 10 employees from NABU and SAPO entering the government district.
• Yermak confirmed that the search was taking place at his home and said he was ready to assist the investigation. UP reported that he had not been served with a notice of suspicion as of the morning.
• Poland said that corruption investigations in Ukraine are "bad news" from the Polish point of view, as they do not make the current peace talks any easier.
• Zelenskyy later announced that he had accepted Yermak's resignation as head of the Office of the President of Ukraine and that the institution will now undergo a reboot. The president said he would hold consultations with potential candidates on Saturday.
• Yermak subsequently announced that he was joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!