Who is Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s powerful chief of staff?

Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) raided the premises in the early hours of Friday linked to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak as part of a major corruption investigation involving the state nuclear power company.

Ukraine’s anti-graft watchdogs confirmed that the raids are part of an investigation but did not specify whether Yermak is a suspect.

Zelenskyy's chief of staff confirmed on Telegram that NABU and SAPO were “indeed conducting procedural actions at my home” .

“The investigators are not encountering any obstacles. They have been given full access to the apartment, and my lawyers are on site, interacting with law enforcement officials," Yermak said. "For my part, I am providing full cooperation.”

Who is Andriy Yermak?

Yermak and Zelenskyy have known each other for a long time before Zelenskyy’s presidency.

Lawyer and film producer, Yermak worked with Zelenskyy’s Kvartal 95 studio, providing legal services. He also founded Garnet Media Group, which produced Ukrainian films and TV shows.

When Zelenskyy became president in 2019, Yermak was appointed his foreign policy adviser.

He was tasked with negotiating prisoner swaps with Russia since Moscow’s first invasion of 2014. He was also overseeing communications with the US.

In February 2020, Zelenskyy appointed him as his chief of staff, with Yermak's primary focus on Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine.

Since then Yermak has been strengthening his position both inside Ukraine and beyond.

He recently led the Ukrainian delegation in talks with the United States in Geneva on a potential settlement to the war in Ukraine.

Is Yermak implicated in the corruption investigation?

An extensive anti-corruption investigation into allegations of graft involving the state nuclear power company Energoatom has rocked Ukraine over the past few weeks.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau published tapes alleging that some government officials had been laundering money and receiving kickbacks from state contracts. Over $100 million has allegedly been laundered.

The alleged ringleader and mastermind was Timur Mindich, Zelenskyy's former business partner.

Mindich had called Yermak “his friend” in the past. It is unclear whether the two have been close since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, or whether their relationship dates back to the pre-2019 period, when Yermak was not yet in politics.

NABU and SAPO said the investigation, which was 15 months in the making and involved 1,000 hours of audio recordings, uncovered the participation of several members of the Ukrainian government.

The watchdogs have not yet released all the tapes, leaving Ukraine guessing who else could have been involved, given that several Ukrainian officials are seen as having close links to Yermak.

Yulia Svyrydenko, appointed prime minister in the summer of 2025, was Yermak's deputy from 2020 to 2021 and later joined the government.

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, appointed in June, is also seen as Yermak’s protégé by anti-corruption activists and pro-government lawmakers.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha had also been a deputy to Yermak before he replaced Dmytro Kuleba, after Kuleba reportedly clashed with Yermak.

Since then, Ukraine’s top diplomatic role has been de facto carried out by Yermak, who has led the most important negotiations and accompanied Zelenskyy at the most crucial meetings, with Sybiha often not even present.

With this level of influence and power, Ukrainians have been wondering whether Andriy Yermak was in any way aware of the alleged corruption within official circles.

Specifically, even before the latest investigation — the largest since Zelenskyy became president and since Moscow’s all-out invasion in early 2022 — three of Yermak’s current deputies, Oleg Tatarov, Andriy Smirnov and Rostyslav Shurma, have already been subject to NABU anti-corruption investigation, with some of them consequently charged.

The majority of Zelenskyy’s aides and allies both inside and outside Ukraine, including the country’s civil society, have been calling for the president to fire Yermak.