Former head of Ukrainian President's Office implicated in corruption scandal is guarded by State Protection Service officers after his dismissal

MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak has said that he identified members of the security detail accompanying the former head of the Ukrainian President's Office, Andrii Yermak, who appeared in an investigation by Ukrainska Pravda.

Source: Yaroslav Zhelezniak on Telegram

Quote: "We quickly identified the people who were guarding Yermak – they are employees of the State Protection Service (SPS)."

Details: Zhelezniak suggested that he knows the names of the officers involved.

"Let's put it this way: if the SPS does not refute this information now, I will not publish their first and last names. Just believe that we have them [the names] – including how they are listed in phone contacts, such as 'Denys SPS' or 'Yarmak's SBP'," he said.

According to the MP, the identified individuals were guarding Yermak while he was still head of the President's Office (sometimes together with the Security Service of Ukraine's Department of Counterintelligence).

"I don't think it needs explaining that the status of a former head of the President's Office gives no right whatsoever to such protection at taxpayers' expense," Zhelezniak added.

Ukrainska Pravda has sent an official request to the State Protection Service seeking an explanation regarding security measures for former head of the President's Office Andrii Yermak.

Background:

• On 28 November, Ukrainska Pravda reported that officers from NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (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.
• On 29 November 2025, Yermak announced that he was going to the front after resigning from his post as head of the President's Office amid a corruption scandal and a search by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) at his residence.
• Yermak confirmed that searches had taken place at his home and stated he was ready to cooperate with the investigation.
• On 2 January, Zelenskyy appointed Kyrylo Budanov, then chief of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), as head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
• On 15 January, NABU Director Semen Kryvonos said that Andrii Yermak and former defence minister Rustem Umierov currently do not have the status of suspects in the Mindich case.
• On 25 January, it became known that former head of the President's Office Andrii Yermak had regained the right to practise law.

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