Yermak’s property search will have huge repercussions for Ukraine and potentially peace talks — snap reaction
Shaun Walker
The revelations that anti-corruption police are searching the property of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak will have huge repercussions for the Ukrainian political scene and possibly for peace negotiations as well.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) and Andriy Yermak (R) are pictured during the President’s address to the US Congress, days after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression on Ukraine in 2022. Photograph: Future Publishing/Getty Images
It is hard to overstate the significance of Yermak in the Ukrainian political system.
He combines multiple roles for Zelenskyy: most trusted sounding board, domestic political enforcer, controller of access to the president, main point of contact for foreign politicians and chief peace negotiator.
Yermak is such a powerful chief of staff that people who know how the president’s office operates describe his relationship with Zelenskyy as symbiotic.
Those who have dealt with Yermak, both inside and outside Ukraine, describe him as a workaholic and a ruthless operator, who has moved against alternative centres of political influence in the country and has systematically worked to acquire political power.
With such influence inevitably comes enemies, and there are few in the Ukrainian elite who have a positive view of Yermak, though many admire his work ethic and political skills.
Foreign politicians have often appreciated knowing they can use Yermak as a direct line to the president, but some have found him a frustrating interlocutor, and figures in the Trump White House are known to have expressed a preference for dealing with Rustem Umerov, the current head of Ukraine’s security council, over Yermak.
Up to now, Zelenskyy has always resisted calls to fire Yermak or even clip his wings, but if he is now caught up in a corruption scandal, these are likely to get louder. Politically, getting rid of his chief of staff might be Zelenskyy’s smartest move, but those who know both men say the relationship is so close it’s hard to imagine Zelenskyy taking that step.
“I suppose it’s theoretically possible that Zelenskyy could function without him but in practice I can’t imagine that ever happening,” one former senior official told me a couple of months ago.
Updated at 04.27 EST
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‘Everyone will be watching this very closely’ — snap reaction
Dan Sabbagh
in Kyiv
Hello Jakub, it’s Dan Sabbagh just walking down the streets in Kyiv.
What to say about this extraordinary news? It’s clearly very significant that Andryi Yermak’s apartment in the government district in the heart of Kyiv has been searched by officers from Ukraine’s powerful NABU anti-corruption agency.
Officers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) pass through a checkpoint in the government quarter in Kyiv. Photograph: Ukrainska Pravda/AFP/Getty Images
But the question is, what will happen next? It certainly, on the face of it, looks like a widening of the corruption investigation relating to allegations of kickbacks demanded of contractors of the state nuclear energy company, Energoatom.
But of course we don’t know what the outcome of these searches will be and it may well be that the corruption investigators will conclude there’s nothing to see here. So the situation is balanced.
Everyone in Ukraine will be following developments closely. There’s a lot of anger, of course, because of this moment in the war as most Ukrainians in Kyiv, for example, are enduring power outages many hours a day because of the Russian bombing. And so the whole allegation of kickbacks in the most important electricity company, nuclear energy being the most important, it’s a very serious one.
People walk in a street past working generators during blackout caused by Russia’s regular massive attacks on the country’s energy sector in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
But for now, the outcome is unclear. Andriy Yermak is President Zelenskyy’s most important aide, the head of his office, inseparable from him since the early days of the invasion and indeed throughout.
Zelensky has always stood by Yermak, and there’s no immediate sign of that changing, but everyone will be watching very closely.
ShareYermak’s property search will have huge repercussions for Ukraine and potentially peace talks — snap reactionShaun Walker
The revelations that anti-corruption police are searching the property of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak will have huge repercussions for the Ukrainian political scene and possibly for peace negotiations as well.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) and Andriy Yermak (R) are pictured during the President’s address to the US Congress, days after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression on Ukraine in 2022. Photograph: Future Publishing/Getty Images
It is hard to overstate the significance of Yermak in the Ukrainian political system.
He combines multiple roles for Zelenskyy: most trusted sounding board, domestic political enforcer, controller of access to the president, main point of contact for foreign politicians and chief peace negotiator.
Yermak is such a powerful chief of staff that people who know how the president’s office operates describe his relationship with Zelenskyy as symbiotic.
Those who have dealt with Yermak, both inside and outside Ukraine, describe him as a workaholic and a ruthless operator, who has moved against alternative centres of political influence in the country and has systematically worked to acquire political power.
With such influence inevitably comes enemies, and there are few in the Ukrainian elite who have a positive view of Yermak, though many admire his work ethic and political skills.
Foreign politicians have often appreciated knowing they can use Yermak as a direct line to the president, but some have found him a frustrating interlocutor, and figures in the Trump White House are known to have expressed a preference for dealing with Rustem Umerov, the current head of Ukraine’s security council, over Yermak.
Up to now, Zelenskyy has always resisted calls to fire Yermak or even clip his wings, but if he is now caught up in a corruption scandal, these are likely to get louder. Politically, getting rid of his chief of staff might be Zelenskyy’s smartest move, but those who know both men say the relationship is so close it’s hard to imagine Zelenskyy taking that step.
“I suppose it’s theoretically possible that Zelenskyy could function without him but in practice I can’t imagine that ever happening,” one former senior official told me a couple of months ago.
Updated at 04.27 EST
Hungary’s Orbán expected to visit Putin for talks on energy, Ukraine
Another big story happening today is Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s unexpected visit to Moscow, where he is due for talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on energy supplies and ending the Ukraine war.
Russian president Vladimir Putin (R) shaking hands with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán (L) during their meeting in the Kemlin in Moscow, Russia. Photograph: Vivien Cher Benko/HUNGARIAN PM’S PRESS OFFICE HANDOUT/EPA
“I am going there to ensure that Hungary’s energy supply is secured for the winter and the following year at an affordable price,” Orbán said in a video uploaded to Facebook.
Hungary has been Russia’s closest ally in the EU, repeatedly criticising the bloc’s response to the Russian aggression on Ukraine, calling for more engagement with Moscow and for sanctions to be lifted.
AFP noted that since returning to power in 2010, Orbán has met Putin 15 times, including four times since the full-scale invasion in 2022.
The Hungarian prime minister is facing a tricky parliamentary election early next year, with his Fidesz party trailing behind the pro-EU opposition forces in the polls, which may explain why he is looking for successes wherever he can find it.
If you’re wondering how serious for Ukraine and Zelenskyy this could get, let’s just say that Yermak has overnight literally fronted Ukraine’s response to the latest peace talks, with an interview in The Atlantic magazine in the US.
Characterised as “Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, lead negotiator and closest aid throughout the full-scale war with Russia,” Yermak insisted that “not a single sane person today would sign a document to give up territory.”
“As long as Zelensky is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory,” he told the magazine by telephone from Kyiv.
He was also directly involved in the talks in Geneva over the weekend.
US state secretary Marco Rubio (R) and Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, meet the press at the United States Mission to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. Photograph: Xinhua/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 03.51 EST
Morning opening: Zelenskyy’s number two sees apartment searched as part of anti-graft probe
Jakub Krupa
Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities are searching properties linked to president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s powerful chief of staff Andriy Yermak.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (R) and Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak (L) pose for the press, as they meet with Spain’s King Felipe at the Zarzuela Palace, in Madrid, Spain earlier this month. Photograph: Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters
In a post on Telegram, Yermak confirmed the authorities were given “full access” to his apartment, and that he is cooperating with the officers, with his lawyers present.
In a joint statement, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office said the searches were “authorised” and linked to an unspecified investigation.
“NABU and SAPO are conducting investigative actions (searches) at the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine,” they said. “Investigative actions are authorised and are being carried out within the framework of an investigation.”
It was not immediately clear what was the investigation about.
Reuters noted that erlier this month, the two agencies unveiled a sweeping investigation into an alleged $100m kickback scheme at the stage atomic energy company, involving Zelenskyy’s ex-business partner.
While Yermak has not been named a suspect in the investigation, but opposition lawmakers and some members of Zelenskyy’s own party had called for his dismissal as part of Ukraine’s worst wartime political crisis, the agency said.
Earlier this year, Ukraine had been engulfed in a political crisis over Zelenskyy’s controversial plans to reform the anti-corruption authorites, which ultimately had to be reversed after intense international criticism, including from the European Union, which continues to say that the fight against corruption remains one of Ukraine’s key task on its path to join the bloc.
The searches come at a tricky time for Ukraine amid growing pressure from the US to agree to a peace deal with Russia, and any perceived or real sense of wrongdoings at the top of the government could undermine Ukraine’s position further.
This could be explosive.
I will bring you all the key updates throughout the day.
It’s Friday, 28 November 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.