Just as peace talks were gaining traction, Ukraine has lost its lead negotiator.
Andriy Yermak, an ever-present figure at President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s side throughout the war with Russia, resigned as chief of staff on Friday after an anti-corruption raid at his home, injecting fresh uncertainty for Ukraine’s leadership.
The exit leaves a vacuum around Zelenskyy as talks accelerate, isolating the Ukrainian president at a critical moment and creating an opening Moscow may try to exploit, analysts say.
The development capped a dramatic week, which began with Kyiv under intense pressure from President Donald Trump to endorse a plan that aligned with Moscow’s hard-line demands. An initial deadline of Thursday, imposed by the White House, passed without any announcement as Ukraine and its allies pushed back against calls for the country to cede territory.
Ukrainian negotiators, led by Yermak, secured changes, and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will now head to Moscow for talks next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russia still wants to move toward peace despite its belief that Zelenskyy was not a legitimate leader.
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But analysts warn that Yermak’s departure leaves Kyiv navigating unfamiliar waters, as Zelenskyy is forced to steer Ukraine through high-stakes negotiations without his most trusted aide.
Yermak’s resignation comes at a “very bad time, because we’re really at a possible tipping point where you know what Ukraine is demanding may not be granted or taken into consideration,” Michael Bociurkiw, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, told NBC News by phone on Saturday.
“None of us really know what Zelenskyy is like operating solo, because he never has,” he said, adding that Yermak has “basically stood in” for Zelenskyy at times.
Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, will lead Ukraine’s delegation for a round of talks in the U.S. on Sunday, Zelenskyy said in a post on X. Umerov has also been mentioned by anti-corruption investigators. Neither he nor Yermak have faced charges.
Bociurkiw added that Yermak’s departure would be unlikely to change Ukraine’s firm stance on territorial concessions, but that Russia “will try to manipulate and take advantage of this vacuum.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were due to attend Sunday’s talks, a U.S. official told NBC News.
Michael A. Horowitz, a Jerusalem-based geopolitical consultant, echoed Bociurkiw’s concerns, saying that Yermak’s resignation, just days before major U.S.-Ukraine-Russia talks and a potential Trump-Putin summit, “disrupts Kyiv’s preparations and invites counterparts to probe whether Ukraine’s red lines on territory and NATO can be eased during the transition.”
But in the long term, Horowitz told NBC News on Saturday, Yermak’s departure could even be a positive.
Critics have said for years that Yermak had accumulated too much power and wielded excessive influence over Zelenskyy. A constant presence by the president’s side through the ups and downs of the war, Yermak had emerged as one of the few men that the Ukrainian leader appeared to really trust.
Zelenskyy has previously railed against corrupt officials, but signs that a corruption scandal may have stretched into his inner circle may provide more ammunition to critics of further support for Ukraine. Trump-aligned figures, including Vice President JD Vance, have previously criticized Ukraine for its issues with corruption.
Yermak’s departure may “reinforce skepticism within the Trump administration” about Zelenskyy’s inner circle, giving them further reasons to push for concessions, said Natia Seskuria, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank.
But Horowitz said the resignation “removes a lightning rod for controversy and gives Kyiv a cleaner, more collective mandate to say no to an unfair and unsustainable peace,” adding: “Zelenskyy is getting his house in order.”
When it comes to how the rule of law is being enforced in Ukraine, “generally this is a good sign,” said Moritz Brake, a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies.
“Of course, it’s bad enough that these accusations existed in the first place,” he added, but “even those in the highest places are prosecuted when suspicions arise.”
Zelenskyy said in a video statement on Friday that he was looking for Yermak’s replacement. “Russia really wants Ukraine to make mistakes,” he said. “There will be no mistakes on our part.”
Losing unity could mean losing the country and its future, he added.
But Bociurkiw said time is “not on Ukraine’s side right now.”
If you’re Ukraine at the moment, he added, “you need not only a physical army, but an army of diplomats and advocates.”
