Opposition lawmakers have called for the creation of a multi-party unity government to strengthen Ukrainian democracy and curtail corruption

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, resigned last Friday amid a deepening corruption scandal that has rocked the nation. Yermak’s ouster is expected to be destabilizing, as his unusually close relationship with Zelenskyy made him Ukraine’s second-most powerful man, but critics seem hopeful that it will strengthen the country’s democracy.

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Zelenskyy first befriended Yermak, an entertainment lawyer and film producer, back in 2011 when both men worked for the same television station. He later appointed Yermak as head of Ukraine’s presidential office in 2020, where the lawyer’s communication and negotiation skills quickly made him a leading behind-the-scenes figure within the administration.

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Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine only deepened the duo’s relationship. In the early weeks of the war, when Kyiv was almost encircled, they slept just feet apart in the presidential bunker, working side-by-side during the day. Yermak reportedly became Zelenskyy’s most trusted ally and only real confidant. The two were so inseparable that some described them as “yin and yang” and “Siamese twins.”

The lawyer strictly controlled who was given access to the president,