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Kiev corruption scandal: Who is Andriy Yermak, the friend who kept Zelensky under "hypnosis"?

2025-11-29 17:29:00Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Kiev corruption scandal: Who is Andriy Yermak, the friend who kept Zelensky
Yermak and Zelensky

Andriy Yermak, a builder of unprecedented influence in Ukrainian politics and for years the closest man to President Volodymyr Zelensky, was forced to resign on Friday after a major corruption scandal rocked Kiev. The man who was called “vice president” in the corridors of power, even though he held no such official position, was seen as the most powerful figure after the head of state.

Yermak was not a diplomat, but he often took the place of the Foreign Minister at the most important meetings. He accompanied Zelensky everywhere, more than the president's wife herself. Deputies from the ruling party say ironically that he "kept him under hypnosis" and that the two spent whole nights in the presidential bunkers, away from the public eye, discussing, playing football or video games to relieve tension.

Their friendship began in 2010, on the television stages where Zelensky built his career. A duo that one source describes as “the commander with the remote control and the one who obeys.” Yermak was a lawyer specializing in copyright and a former film producer, but within six years he managed to create a “parallel government,” influencing every minister and every decision-making.

His figure was viewed with distrust in the West. In Washington, he was considered problematic, in Brussels, unsuitable for negotiations, while in Ukraine, two-thirds of citizens demanded his removal in the spring. However, Zelensky continued to defend him and entrusted him with all rounds of international negotiations, and even five days before his resignation, he sat opposite US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Opponents see Yermak as the man who blocked the careers of Zelensky's political rivals, from Technology Minister Mykhailo Fedorov to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The most hit was the popular General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who was dismissed from the army and sent to serve as ambassador to London.

According to Ukrainian investigators, the parallel government he ran functioned as a “criminal system,” linked to another friend of Zelensky, oligarch Timur Mindich, known for his excessive luxury and who fled shortly after the investigation began. The prosecution suspects that around 86 million euros were illegally obtained through energy contracts at a time when the country was facing massive power outages and Russian bombing of the power grid.

The scandal also hit the state-owned company Enerhoatom. Several ministers are suspected of benefiting, including Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko, who Zelensky promptly fired to save the presidency's image.

Zelensky himself does not face direct charges, but in Kiev he is said to appear more shaken by the "betrayal of a friend" than by the fallout from the scandal.

"How will he manage without Yermaku?" asks a Rada deputy.

But the most important question, according to analysts, is another: How will Ukraine fare in the midst of a war and a new political crisis?


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