Zelenskyy comments on his former top aide Yermak's dismissal: I had my reasons
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has commented on the dismissal of Andrii Yermak from the post of head of the Office of the President, saying the decision was not connected to a corruption investigation or searches at Yermak's home.
Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with The Atlantic journalist Simon Shuster
Quote: "For years, Zelenskyy resisted pressure from the US.government and many of his closest allies in Ukraine to fire his chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, who served as Ukraine's lead negotiator. An imperious figure with a tendency to grandstand, Yermak feuded with a succession of Western diplomats and just about everyone in Zelenskyy's entourage."
Details: According to Shuster, the president agreed to dismiss Yermak only last autumn, on the day investigators searched his home as part of a corruption investigation.
However, as he noted, Zelenskyy refused to admit that the corruption investigation had forced his decision.
The president reacted emotionally to the question. "I had my reasons," he said.
Read more: St Andrew the First-Called Apostle: how Andrii Yermak became Zelenskyy's right-hand man
Background:
- On 28 November 2025, Ukrainska Pravda reported that officers from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (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 NABU and SAPO employees entering the government district.
- Yermak confirmed that his home had been searched and said he was ready to assist the investigation.
- Zelenskyy later announced that he had accepted Yermak's resignation and that the President's Office. On 2 December, Zelenskyy appointed Kyrylo Budanov, former head of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, as the new head of the President's Office.
- Yermak announced that he was going to the front line after resigning as head of the President's Office amid the corruption scandal.
- According to ZN.UA, Yermak visited the office of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service on 5 December, although sources of Ukrainska Pravda did not confirm this information.
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