Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has removed his chief of staff and top negotiator Andriy Yermak after detectives raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.
Mr Yermak's removal deals a serious blow to Mr Zelensky, who is facing a mounting Russian offensive in the east just as the United States, a crucial ally, pushes a plan to end the war that Ukraine fears will hand big concessions to Russia.
Mr Yermak was supposed to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine at talks in the US this weekend, but that plan is now out the window, a senior official briefed on the matter said.
Instead, the talks will be led by Ukrainian security council secretary Rustem Umerov, according to two senior Ukrainian officials, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter.
"The delegation is planning to meet with the American side at the end of this week," a source said.
Just last week, Mr Zelensky had named Mr Yermak as Ukraine's top negotiator in a vote of confidence despite growing pressure from opposition figures to remove his divisive chief of staff.
Yesterday, Mr Zelensky announced in a video address: "The Office of the President of Ukraine will be reorganised. The head of the office, Andriy Yermak, has submitted his resignation."
Minutes later, President Zelensky signed a decree "to dismiss" Mr Yermak.
Yesterday morning, investigators from the National Anti-Corruption Agency (NABU) said it and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office had raided Mr Yermak's apartment as part of an investigation.
They did not say what it was about, and Mr Yermak said he was cooperating fully.
Mr Yermak has been accused of involvement in a $100 million kickback scheme in the strategic energy sector, uncovered by investigators earlier this month.
The case triggered widespread public anger at a time when Russia is hammering Ukraine's power grid, causing blackouts and threatening winter heating outages.
In the face of the scandal, Mr Zelensky sought to rally the population.
"If we lose our unity, we risk losing everything: ourselves, Ukraine, our future," he said in the address.
President Zelensky said he would hold consultations today over a replacement.
The scandal comes at an awkward moment for the Ukrainian leader.
Mr Yermak was Mr Zelensky's most important ally but a divisive figure in Ukraine, where his opponents say he has accumulated power, gate-keeps access to the president and ruthlessly sidelines critical voices.
Watch: Zelensky says his chief of staff has resigned
A former film producer and copyright lawyer, he came into politics with Mr Zelensky in 2019, previously working with him during the now-president's time as a popular comedian.
Mr Yermak was widely considered the second-most influential man in the country and even sometimes nicknamed "vice-president".
"Yermak doesn't allow anyone to get to Zelensky except loyal people," a former senior official who worked with Mr Zelensky and Mr Yermak said, describing him as "paranoid".
"He definitely tries to influence almost every decision," they added.
Speaking after the raid on Mr Yermak, the European Union backed the work of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies.
"We have a lot of respect for those investigations which show that the anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine are doing their work," said European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho.
Mr Zelensky had in the summer tried to strip the independence of NABU and SPO, triggering rare wartime protests and forcing him to walk back the decision after criticism from the EU.
Pressure on Zelensky
Mr Yermak is widely unpopular in society and distrusted by two-thirds of the population, according to a March 2025 poll by the Razumkov Centre, an NGO.
Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said, before Mr Yermak's removal, that he needed to shore up Ukraine's position in talks with the United States.
Alluding to the vulnerability of the moment, Mr Zelensky also stressed that he could not afford to make political missteps at this moment.
"Russia really wants Ukraine to make mistakes," he said.
"There will be no mistakes on our part," he added.
Russian drone strike on Kyiv wounds seven people
Meanwhile, a Russian drone attack targeted the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of this morning, wounding seven people, authorities in Kyiv said.
Loud explosions were heard in the city around midnight, according to AFP journalists, and air defence forces were responding, officials said.
"Enemy drones are over the city, with air defence responding. There are multiple targets on the capital's outskirts," Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on Telegram.
Mayor Vitaly Klitschko warned people to remain in shelters during the attack.
"There are currently seven injured in the capital. Four of them have been hospitalised by medics," Mr Klitschko said, also on Telegram.
Residential buildings in several districts of the city and cars were damaged, the mayor said.
Earlier this week, Russian drones and missiles rained down on Kyiv during the night, setting fires in apartment buildings.
City officials said seven people were killed.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the worst armed conflict in Europe since World War II.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.
