In the end, the president himself left him to his fate.
According to one of the sources of Ukrainska Pravda, Jermak allegedly did not believe until the last moment that Zelenskyi, with whom he had avoided many critical situations especially since 2022, would actually recall him. “And in this way – that he will face the facts. It is said that he was most upset that the president threw him overboard,” the newspaper quoted an interlocutor from Jermak’s close neighborhood.
The dismissal from the post was allegedly even accompanied by a minor drama. Sources in the presidential team of Ukrainian Truth described that after Yermak was asked to write a statement about his resignation, the head of the office was supposed to present the president with “a half-hour hysteria with curses, reproaches and accusations.”
He wrote his resignation letter and quickly packed his things
The weekly also wrote about the fact that Jermak was not “in his own skin” after learning about his appeal, referring to his sources.
For a change, the website writes that the final conversation between the president and the head of his office was not easy, but with reference to its sources, it states that there was no raising of the voice, although it was obvious that the dismissal was an unexpected blow for Jermak.
“When it was decided, Jermak immediately wrote his resignation and quickly packed his things. The next day, he came again to Bankova (the seat of the Ukrainian president, ed.), but he only came to talk – after all, they have a long history together with Zelensky,” the website notes.
The fact that Jermak’s departure was accompanied by an increase in his voice was claimed, for example, by the opposition MP from the Holosa party, Jaroslav Železňak. “Many sources told me that Jermak (to the appeal, ed. note) reacted very emotionally. He shouted and demanded something from Zelensky,” Železňak said in his statement, adding that the head of the presidential office allegedly “slammed the door and wrote text messages to foreign journalists”.
News about going to the front
Železňak was referring to the messages that Andrij Jermak exchanged with the New York Post. In those, Jermak wrote to journalists that “he is an honest person and plans to go to the front”. Jermak also stated that “he is disgusted with the filth that is being thrown at him.”
“I am even more disgusted by the lack of support from those who know the truth,” he added in an emotional message.
Ukrainian investigative journalist from the Our Hippos project (in translation, Our money, editor’s note) Yuriy Nikolov thinks that Jermak’s complaint about the lack of support could have been directed at Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Who else could have saved the man he had appointed and then dismissed?” commented for .
According to the opposition deputy Železňak, there is also a speculative version of Jermak’s appeal – namely, that it was a “theatre” and that Jermak will exert his influence from the back of the “bunker near Konča-Zaspe” (it is a lucrative district on the outskirts of Kyiv, ed. note). However, the MP says he doubts this version and pointed out that even if Jermak were to continue advising Zelensky remotely, he would never have the same influence as he had when he was sitting in the office – and when he was constantly right next to the president.
If Zelenskyy had not acted, he would have risked more
Volodymyr Fesenko’s removal from circulation was apparently decided definitively by Friday’s house search.
We remind you that shortly before, Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent the former head of the office to Geneva to negotiate peace, which some commentators took as a signal that the president is counting on him, despite the fact that the media was flooded with news and memes about Jermak’s nickname “Ali Baba”. This nickname appeared in connection with the case of the Midas corruption case, which has been shaking Ukraine for several weeks.
However, according to Fesenko, the fact that a unit from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau knocked on Jermak’s apartment door made the former head of the presidential office a “legally toxic figure”. According to him, if Zelensky did not act after the raid, he would risk an escalation of relations with the parliament, in which a part of the Servant of the People faction of the governing party demanded Yermako’s departure, and perhaps civil protests.
International partners would probably start asking questions again.
“The president understood that he had to change the lady, otherwise he could lose the whole game,” the RBK-Ukraine portal quoted its source in connection with the search of Jermak’s home on Friday.
We are looking for a new head of office
Meanwhile, in Kyiv, they started looking for a new head of the presidential office. According to the sources of the Ukrainská pravda daily, the most realistic candidates for this position are the Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhaylo Fedorov, the Minister of Defense and former Prime Minister Denys Shmyhaľ, and the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration for Military Affairs Pavlo Palisa.
RBK-Ukraine also mentions the head of military intelligence, Kyryl Budanov.
The Economist weekly also included the former Ukrainian ambassador to the USA, Oksana Markarova, among the possible candidates, but in the meantime, she holds the position of adviser to the president for the issues of the renewal of Ukraine and investments. Mykhajl Fedorov was named by the Economist as a possible favorite.
According to RBK-Ukraine, it should have been him who in the summer, when the so-called cardboard protests, which demanded the return of independent status for anti-corruption authorities, opened the topic of Jermak’s appeal.
