A corruption scandal in Ukraine led to the resignation of presidential office head Andriy Yermak. After a NABU search in the “Mindich case,” he said he did not want to create problems for Volodymyr Zelensky and was therefore leaving his post and going to the front. At talks with the United States in Florida, the Ukrainian delegation was then headed not by Yermak but by National Security and Defense Council secretary Rustem Umerov.
Ukrainian political analyst and Center for Reform Assistance head Georgy Chizhov says the resignation is unlikely to soften the scandal’s consequences, though it removes some of the pressure from Zelensky personally. In his view, the public sees Yermak’s departure as an indirect admission of guilt, while his promise to join the army is being met with skepticism.
“If Zelensky had continued to stand by Yermak, society would have had serious questions for him personally,” Chizhov said.
In the expert’s assessment, for US President Donald Trump the issue of Ukrainian corruption may be more of a convenient pretext to pressure Kyiv. At the same time, Yermak himself had long irritated the American side, and his departure could in theory ease contacts with Washington. Much, Chizhov says, will depend on who becomes the main negotiator on both sides.
He names two major unresolved issues: the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from parts of the Donetsk region and security guarantees. Chizhov argues that weapons supplies and army training are not enough: Kyiv wants clear commitments from NATO states to enter combat if Russia attacks again, but such promises alarm Western governments.
The expert also points to the exhaustion of Ukraine’s economy. Almost all budget revenue, he says, is being spent on the war, social spending depends increasingly on Western aid, and Europe is discussing a loan to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets. Chizhov believes the combined potential of Ukraine and Europe is greater than Russia’s, but the decisive question is whether the West is willing to use that potential in full.