After an anti-corruption probe by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), key power players are urging President Volodymyr Zelensky to dismiss Andriy Yermak. For the first time in years, Yermak’s position has genuinely been shaken.
According to an investigation by Ukrainska Pravda, following publication of NABU’s “Midas” case — which exposed alleged corruption schemes in the energy sector - officials close to the president are widely advising Zelensky to fire Andriy Yermak, the head of the President’s Office.
Ukrainska Pravda reports that over the past week, Zelensky personally held a series of confidential meetings with key members of his team - from Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko to Kyrylo Budanov and Mykhailo Fedorov. The goal: to figure out how to stabilize the situation after the anti-corruption shock.
And nearly all the interlocutors, independently, offered the same advice: Yermak should be replaced. He has long irritated not only European partners but also a significant number of influential politicians in the United States.
A senior source in the Servant of the People party told Ukrainska Pravda: “In the Rada, it’s easier to count those who are not demanding Yermak’s resignation. If this doesn’t happen, the faction will fall apart on its own.”
Inside the party, a bloc of dissatisfied lawmakers — the so-called “coalition of the resolute” — has emerged, threatening even to leave the faction if the head of the President’s Office remains in place. According to Ukrainska Pravda, the effort is driven by a group linked to the Davyd Arakhamia–Danylo Hetmantsev tandem, joined by the party’s liberal wing.
This is no longer mere internal discontent - it is organized political pressure.
Andriy Yermak has long been one of the most polarizing figures in Ukrainian politics. He has amassed an unprecedented degree of influence: control over key negotiations, sway over personnel decisions, access to all of the president’s strategic choices, and influence across the security and diplomatic portfolios.
That concentration of power frustrates not only Ukrainian politicians but also Western partners, who increasingly signal they want a more transparent and less personalized system of governance.
Until now, Zelensky has consistently backed Yermak and resisted pressure from both inside and outside his administration. But the crisis sparked by the NABU probe is the most serious they have faced in their time working together. For the first time in years, the question of dismissing Yermak is being raised not as gossip or political spin, but as a real ultimatum within the government, experts say.
