The abrupt resignation Friday of Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who was also serving as lead negotiator with the United States, came just hours after his home was searched by anti-corruption authorities.
Soon after, Russia unleashed hundreds of drones and missiles on Ukraine, killing two people in Kyiv and wounding dozens of others. By morning, more than a half-million residents of the capital were left without power.
Meanwhile, Washington remains set on finalizing a controversial deal to end the war, with President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, expected in Moscow next week and the revised Ukrainian delegation already en route to the U.S. for more talks.
Rustem Umerov, who heads Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, was tapped to replace Yermak as lead negotiator — a move that is facing domestic criticism as suspicions swirl that he too may be implicated in the widening corruption scandal.
As that team hammers through key details of a peace plan, opposition lawmakers are also calling for Zelensky to unify the country by replacing key ministers and backing a new coalition in parliament. The justice and energy ministers already resigned this month after they were accused of ties to the corruption scandal. Those positions have proven difficult to fill, as candidates fear joining the government at an uncertain moment could risk their reputations nearly four years into the full-scale war
Zelensky will have to S this multitude of crises as he also seeks a candidate to replace his most loyal aide, who was widely criticized for consolidating power in the presidential office and disrupting the work of career diplomats but for years maintained Zelensky’s trust for the most sensitive wartime tasks.
“Yermak’s resignation for Zelensky is almost like cutting off his right arm,” said Ukrainian political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko. “It’s extremely painful — physically and psychologically. A psychological vacuum will appear around Zelensky. Yermak was always next to him.”
US 'Ordered' Corruption Probe in Zelensky's Inner Circle – Medvedchuk
1 comment:
In Australia half a million without power is a summer storm and we kill 3 or 4 every weekend on the roads. Russia sending hundreds of drones and killing 2 is just playing with Ukraine.
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