Ukraine’s Yermak gets the boot: How Western media reacted
Andrey Yermak resigned as chief of staff to Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky on Friday, after his home was raided by anti-corruption investigators in a widening $100 million graft probe. His exit has triggered an avalanche of reactions from Western media, which widely portrayed the move as a blow to Zelensky’s leadership.
Coverage described the moment as a “political earthquake,” a “massive crisis,” and a “tectonic shift” for a government now facing pressure from the Trump administration, European backers, domestic critics, and a fatigued public.
Financial Times warned that the resignation of Yermak “adds to trouble” for the “beleaguered” Ukrainian leader. The outlet described Yermak as a “powerful and polarising figure” whose departure “further weakens Zelensky at a pivotal moment.” Yermak’s exit “deepens risks for Zelensky,” who had relied on his chief of staff to lead both conflict strategy and diplomacy, FT wrote.
A report by Barak Ravid called the resignation “a political earthquake” in the middle of “frantic diplomatic efforts by the Trump administration” to push a peace deal to end the fighting. Citing senior Ukrainian sources, Axios reported that Yermak’s resignation happened just one day before he was scheduled to fly to Miami for talks with President Trump’s team.
“This is the perfect storm. There is a lot of uncertainty right now,” a Ukrainian official told Axios. The article noted that Yermak, “the most powerful political figure in Ukraine after Zelensky,” had been central to both domestic policy and diplomacy.
The scandal is reportedly being seen by US officials as a factor that could “weaken Ukraine’s negotiating position with Russia.”
Jakub Krupa, a British-Polish journalist and columnist at The Guardian, sharply criticized the timing and handling of Yermak’s resignation, calling it “a massive, massive moment” for Zelensky and Ukraine.
Krupa noted that Yermak’s resignation just hours after anti-corruption authorities raided his property “is clearly an attempt to quickly move past the controversy.” He stressed that the scandal hit at “probably the worst possible moment for Ukraine,” as the country faces mounting pressure from “allies and enemies alike.”
Politico described Yermak’s resignation as a “tectonic shift for Ukraine that sets the stage for a fierce battle over how the country is governed.”
Zelensky “will be without his producer as he prepares for fraught negotiations with the U.S. over President Donald Trump’s ‘peace plan’ to end the conflict with Russia,” it wrote.
The outlet recalled how Yermak, a “once little-known lawyer” and movie producer, came to be seen as “virtually a co-president” and noted that “many Ukrainian commentators cast Yermak as the producer in the ruling duopoly with the former TV comic-turned-president in the lead role.”
“Zelensky has no real replacement ready because he never thought things would go this far. But the heat got so intense that it boiled down to the simplest choice: him or Yermak. And Zelensky picked himself,” Politico wrote quoting Yulia Mendel, a former Zelensky aide-turned-critic.
The financial news agency described Yermak’s departure as leaving Zelensky “deprived of his most important adviser at a critical moment.” Bloomberg said the resignation “comes just as Donald Trump is pushing Ukraine to make concessions to Russia” and “as Zelensky’s forces are facing shortages of weapons and funding.”
The article also noted “a wave of public outrage,” including from lawmakers in his ruling party, following the scandals.”
Yermak’s departure has “plunged Zelensky’s leadership into crisis” and the scandal “could weaken Kiev’s position” in international talks, Reuters wrote.
The agency also reported that the fallout “comes at a time when Ukraine can least afford disunity” as internal pressure grows from both the opposition and members of Zelensky’s own party.
The timing of the scandal is especially damaging: “A major probe into high-level graft, at a time when Ukraine is fighting against Russia for its very survival, has sparked public outrage.”
