Zelenskyy's former aide Yermak says he has set up NGO to help soldiers and POWs

Andrii Yermak, the former head of the President's Office, has announced that he has founded a non-governmental organisation, Justice for Ukraine, together with service members and lawyers.

Source: Yermak on social media

Quote: "At the National Bar Association of Ukraine (NBAU) committee, we are working on systemic solutions: policy, approaches, legislation. This organisation builds on that work, but focuses on individual cases."

Details: Yermak said the organisation will tackle the real legal issues faced by service members, prisoners of war, and their families and children: status, payments, protection of rights, and compensation.

He said that in addition to himself, the founders of the organisation are Artem Dyblenko, a marine officer who was taken prisoner after defending Mariupol, Yuliia Stepanenko, a lawyer with an international practice, and Tetiana Kan, a servicewoman, lawyer and manager.

Quote: "We plan to begin working full time, with an office and the first cases, as early as May."

Previously:

• Earlier, Yermak was appointed chair of a committee set up on his initiative within the NBAU to focus on the protection of victims of armed aggression against Ukraine, compensation mechanisms, and legal support for European integration and reconstruction.
• The UNBA committee then launched a project called Advokat+. The association said Yermak and other lawyers had already visited some Armed Forces of Ukraine units in the combat zone to provide consultations.
• In March, Yermak accompanied American actor and director Sean Penn when he visited a combat unit of the 157th Mechanised Brigade in Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast.

Background:

• On the morning of 28 November 2025, Ukrainska Pravda reported that detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and prosecutors from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) had conducted searches pertaining to Yermak in Kyiv's government quarter.
• Yermak confirmed that searches were being carried out at his place of residence and said he was willing to cooperate with the investigation.
• Later, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had dismissed Yermak as head of the President's Office. On 2 January, Zelenskyy appointed Kyrylo Budanov, who at the time headed the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, as the new head of the Office.
• Yermak himself said he was heading to the front line after submitting his resignation amid the corruption scandal and investigative actions by NABU at his home.
• Online media outlet ZN.UA (Mirror of the Week) reported that Yermak visited the office of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine on 5 December 2025. However, Ukrainska Pravda sources did not confirm this information.

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