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

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

Source: Yermak on social media

Quote: "Within the National Bar Association of Ukraine (NBAU) committee, we are working on systemic solutions, from policy and legal frameworks to broader institutional approaches. This organisation builds on that work, but now focuses on individual cases."

Details: Yermak said the organisation will deal with the real legal issues facing service members, prisoners of war, their families and children, including 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 went through captivity after the defence of Mariupol, Yuliia Stepanenko, a lawyer with 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.
• After that, the UNBA committee launched the Advokat+ project. The association said Yermak, working together with other lawyers, had already visited some Armed Forces of Ukraine units in the combat zone to provide consultations.
• In March, Yermak accompanied US actor and director Sean Penn, who visited a combat unit from 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.
• According to ZN.UA (Mirror of the week), a Ukrainian online newspaper, 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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