Ukraine’s top peace negotiator resigns after anti-corruption raid on home
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Friday the resignation of his powerful chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, who was also the country’s lead negotiator in talks with the U.S, after Yermak’s residence was searched by anti-corruption investigators.
The unprecedented search at the heart of Ukraine’s government was a blow for the Ukrainian leader that risked disrupting his negotiating strategy at a time when Kyiv is under intense U.S. pressure to sign a peace deal nearly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Yermak has long been a trusted confidant of Zelenskyy, who has resisted persistent pressure to replace him.
In a nod to the controversy over Yermak’s long stay at his side, Zelenskyy said Russia was waiting for Ukraine to make missteps and upset the delicate and tense peace negotiations.
“We don’t have a right to retreat or argue between ourselves. If we lose unity, we risk losing everything — ourselves, Ukraine, our future,” Zelenskyy said. “We must unite, we must hold on. We have no other choice. We won’t have another Ukraine.”
“To preserve our internal strength, there must be no reasons to be distracted at anything else except for defense of Ukraine,” he added. “I don’t want anybody to be questioning Ukraine, and that’s why we have today’s decisions.”
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy announced that he was “resetting” the presidential office. He said Yermak had submitted his resignation and that he would begin consultations Saturday to appoint a new chief of staff.
Yermak’s name did not appear on a list of officials that Zelenskyy said would make up the Ukrainian delegation for the next round of negotiations with the United States.
The delegation will now be jointly lead by Andrii Hnatov, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces; Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister; and Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s security council, Zelenskyy said. He said negotiations would happen “soon.”
Two national agencies fighting corruption in Ukraine said their search targeted Yermak. Oleksii Tkachuk, a spokesperson for Yermak, said the anti-graft agencies had not served Yermak a notice of suspicion, meaning he was not a suspect in an investigation. Yermak was not told what the searches related to, Tkachuk said.
Yermak confirmed the search of his apartment inside the presidential compound in downtown Kyiv, where checkpoints limit public access. Media reports said Yermak’s office was also searched, but investigators declined to comment on that.
It was not clear where Zelenskyy or Yermak were at the time of the morning raid.
“The investigators are facing no obstacles,” Yermak wrote on the messaging app Telegram. He said he was cooperating fully with them and that his lawyers were present.
In an interview Thursday with The Atlantic, Yermak said that as long as Zelensky is president, “no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory.”
Ukraine, he said, is prepared to discuss only the question of what land each side controls, as indicated by the location of the front lines.
“All we can realistically talk about right now is really to define the line of contact,” Yermak said.
Energy sector scandal
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office are leading a major investigation into a $100 million energy sector scandal involving top Ukrainian officials that has dominated domestic headlines in recent weeks.
It was not clear if the searches were connected to the case, and a spokesperson for the NABU, Anton Tatarnikov, declined to comment, citing legal restrictions on revealing details on an ongoing probe.
The head of Ukraine’s parliamentary anti-corruption committee, Anastasiia Radina, said on social media that Yermak’s resignation was “better late than never.”
Mykyta Porturaev, a lawmaker with Zelenskyy’s party who last week called for Yermak’s resignation and for a cross-party government to be established, said the anti-corruption raid deepened Ukraine’s political crisis.
Yermak “definitely had political responsibility,” Porturaev told The Associated Press. “Of course he had to go.”
A spokesperson for the European Commission, Guillaume Mercier, told Ukrainian news outlet Radio Svoboda on Friday that they were following developments closely and that the searches showed that Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies were working. He said fighting corruption was central to the country’s European Union accession.
Investigators suspect that Tymur Mindich, a one-time business partner of Zelenskyy, was the plot’s mastermind. Mindich has fled the country, with any criminal proceedings against him likely to be carried out in absentia. Two top government ministers have resigned in the scandal.
Two of Yermak’s former deputies — Oleh Tatarov and Rostyslav Shurma — left the government in 2024 after watchdogs investigated them for financial wrongdoing. A third deputy, Andrii Smyrnov, was investigated for bribes and other wrongdoing but still works for Yermak.
Political turmoil for Zelenskyy
The scandal has heaped more problems on Zelenskyy as he seeks continued Western support for Ukraine’s war effort and tries to ensure continued foreign funding. The European Union, which Ukraine wants to join, has told Zelenskyy he must crack down on graft.
Zelenskyy faced an unprecedented rebellion from his own lawmakers earlier this month after investigators published details of their energy sector investigation.
Although Yermak was not accused of any wrongdoing, several senior lawmakers in Zelenskyy’s party said Yermak should take responsibility for the debacle in order to restore public trust. Some said that if Zelenskyy didn’t fire him, the party could split, threatening the president’s parliamentary majority. But Zelenskyy defied them.
Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to unite and “stop the political games” in light of the U.S. pressure to reach a settlement with Russia.
Yermak met Zelenskyy over 15 years ago when he was a lawyer venturing into the TV production business and Zelenskyy was a famous Ukrainian comedian and actor.
He oversaw foreign affairs as part of Zelenskyy’s first presidential team and was promoted to chief of staff in February 2020.
Yermak has accompanied Zelenskyy on every trip abroad since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and the president’s trust in him has made Yermak’s power appear almost untouchable.
Domestically, officials describe Yermak as Zelenskyy’s gatekeeper, and he is widely believed to have chosen all top government appointees, including prime ministers and ministers.
The possibility of corruption in the Liberal Party, whether the provincial Liberals or the Federal party, is not the least bit surprising.
Anti-corruption police looking into allegations against Quebec Liberals
Quebec’s anti-corruption police say they are looking into the internal crisis shaking the province’s Liberals, as their political rivals feast over a steady stream of embarrassing news that is threatening to tarnish the party’s image and is putting pressure on its leader.
Mathieu Galarneau, a spokesperson for the anti-corruption unit known as UPAC, said investigators are working to validate allegations of wrongdoing before deciding whether to open an official investigation.
“Following the analysis of this information, we will be able to decide whether or not to proceed further,” Galarneau said, confirming the police force’s involvement, first reported by Journal de Montreal on Wednesday.
The Quebec Liberals have been in crisis since Marwah Rizqy, the party’s former leader in the legislature, fired her chief of staff without consulting party leader Pablo Rodriguez. In response, Rodriguez then removed Rizqy from her position last week and suspended her from caucus, citing a breach of trust.
Adding to the controversy was a story published last week in the Journal de Montréal revealing alleged text messages from unidentified parties suggesting some members who supported Rodriguez during the leadership race received cash rewards. Rodriguez says he welcomes the involvement of the anti-corruption unit and that he has mandated the party to investigate the allegations.
“I sincerely hope that UPAC will shed light on this matter and, if necessary, file the appropriate charges. I would like to remind you that I have requested an independent investigation to get to the bottom of this. And I am committed to making the report public,” Rodriguez wrote on social media Wednesday night.
Last week, Rodriguez announced his party would be sending a legal letter to the Montreal tabloid in an effort to learn the names of the people involved and the phone numbers associated with the text messages. Rodriguez said he also wanted the Journal to explain how it verified the “authenticity and veracity” of the messages.
Another layer was added Wednesday when La Presse reported that Fayçal El-Khoury, the member of Parliament for Laval—Les Îles, had a discussion with Rizqy on Nov. 14 that caught the attention of Élections Québec because of a possible link to Rodriguez’s leadership bid. Rodriguez won the leadership race in June.
When contacted by The Canadian Press, Elections Québec did not confirm whether they were investigating. Rodriguez said he didn’t know if the elections agency was looking into the matter.
On Wednesday, the Liberal leader confirmed that El-Khoury had solicited donations for his leadership campaign. “He had a solicitation certificate, which is public information. That means he was collecting money like many others,” Rodriguez said.
Rizqy has largely remained silent on the affair. On Sunday, ahead of Rodriguez’s appearance on a popular Quebec talk show “Tout le monde en parle,” she wrote on Facebook that she could not comment publicly because the dismissal of her chief of staff, Geneviève Hinse, was a human resources matter. Rizqy also acknowledged the situation had put her “political family in a delicate position.”
Rizqy has said she won’t seek re-election in 2026 and will focus on her young family.
For his part, upon leaving the federal Liberal caucus meeting on Wednesday, El-Khoury did not respond to reporters’ questions about his involvement in Rodriguez’s leadership race. The federal MP said he would make a statement later, without offering specifics.
The other political parties at the national assembly seized on the series of controversies this week, with Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette calling it a repeat of previous scandals that had dogged the party.
“What we are seeing, once again, with the Quebec Liberal Party, is that it is the same old Liberal party that has not changed. The same illegal practices, the same ethically questionable practices,” Jolin-Barrette said Wednesday.
The government of former premier Jean Charest — in office from 2003-2012 — was badly tarnished by a scandal involving corruption in the construction sector and the illegal financing of political parties. Although no member of the Liberals was charged with a crime, a public inquiry — known as the Charbonneau commission — revealed widespread corruption in the construction industry, often involving organized crime, and the close ties with municipal and provincial politicians.
On Thursday morning, Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon also weighed in. “It’s no surprise that UPAC repeatedly finds itself investigating the Quebec Liberal Party, and it’s not just Pablo Rodriguez; it’s an entire organization.”
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