On December 8, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is considering five candidates for the post of head of the Presidential Office. The list includes Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal, First Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, deputy head of the Presidential Office Pavlo Palisa, and Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya.
The appointment issue arose after the resignation of former office head Andriy Yermak became known on November 28. Before that, investigators searched him as part of a case involving large-scale embezzlement at Energoatom. No charges were filed against Yermak, but he resigned and said he intended to go to the front.
Zelensky said that, for him, the main options are Shmyhal and Fedorov, but appointing either would be complicated because parliament would first have to dismiss them from their current posts, which, he warned, could disrupt the work of other institutions.
Zelensky separately stressed that the Defense Ministry remains the country’s “number one priority,” and that it is still unclear who could replace Fedorov in government. He also noted that parliament has still not filled the vacancies at the Justice and Energy ministries.
Political analyst Georgy Chizhov said the public naming of candidates looked unusual, though a final decision could be made within days. In his view, Shmyhal and Fedorov are the most likely contenders, but moving either of them to the Presidential Office could weaken important state sectors.
Chizhov also said Budanov’s chances were minimal because military intelligence could lose too much during wartime. Among the proposed figures, he also singled out Kyslytsya as an experienced diplomat who is involved in talks with the United States.