The Fall of Andriy Yermak, Ukraine's Second Most Powerful Man
President Zelensky's former chief of staff was the man who ran much of wartime Ukraine. He is charged with embezzling millions. What happens next? And did Zelensky know?2
At around 6pm on May 11 in Kyiv, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak posted on Telegram that Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies were carrying out investigative actions involving Andriy Yermak.
Yermak is a household name in Ukraine. The 54-year-old former entertainment lawyer turned chief of staff was widely described as Ukraine’s second president. He ran President Volodymyr Zelensky’s affairs for six years and was sat next to the president in nearly every wartime foreign meeting until his resignation last November as corruption allegations swirled.
Yesterday, Yermak was notified he is under suspicion of laundering around $10 million through an elite construction project near Kyiv. If this goes to trial and he is convicted, he faces up to 12 years in prison. It carries eight to twelve years and full confiscation of property.
Zelensky has not responded yet, with his office issuing a statement saying only that it was “too early to comment.”
FACTSHEET:
Andriy Yermak was the most powerful unelected official in wartime Ukraine. From February 2020 until November 2025 he ran the Office of the President, picked prime ministers, chose ministers and governors, sidelined the foreign minister and ran his own diplomacy from Bankova. He was in nearly every foreign meeting Zelensky took, shared the bunker with him in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, and was widely described in Kyiv and abroad as the country’s de facto second president. Time placed him on its 100 most influential people list in 2024. He resigned in disgrace in November 2025.
