Loss of chief negotiator could see Zelensky play hardball over peace deal

Just as efforts to end the war in Ukraine were said to be making progress, Volodymyr Zelensky has lost the head of the negotiation team, Andriy Yermak.

- Liz Cookman

The president's polarising right hand man was often described as Ukraine's second most powerful person, but Yermak - a former film producer - resigned as chief of staff on Friday after a dawn raid on his home amid the biggest corruption probe of Zelensky's term. Investigators have accused high-ranking officials including other figures close to the president of running a kickback scheme worth around $100m at the state nuclear company Energoatom.

Yermak, who has known Zelensky for years, was already deeply unpopular. Critics have long claimed that he had accumulated too much influence, making him one of the most powerful unelected figures in Ukraine’s history. Yet losing a key figure in the presidential administration has come at the worst possible time for the country.

Kyiv faces intense pressure from US president Donald Trump to agree to a peace deal with Russia, and Yermak had been appointed to lead the negotiation delegation just over a week ago. The initial deadline imposed by the White House was Thursday, but Ukraine and its allies have pushed back against a plan that was widely seen as aligned with Moscow's hard-line demands and talks are ongoing.

Yermak’s exit paves the way for broad change inside Ukraine, but it also leaves a gap in the heart of Zelensky's administration as further high-stakes meetings loom. It has left the president without his most consistent diplomatic hand.