The portal called Ermak’s dismissal a “political earthquake” that occurred “the day before he was supposed to head to Miami for negotiations with President Trump’s team on a “peace plan” to resolve the war of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
As Axios noted, Ermak, along with several advisers to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, was supposed to arrive in Miami this weekend and hold talks with Trump representatives Vitkoff and Kushner.
At the meeting, the Ukrainian side expected to finally agree on the details of the “peace plan” before Witkoff’s trip to Moscow for negotiations with the illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to journalist Yulia Zabelina, the Ukrainian delegation will fly to the United States without Ermak, who led it at the negotiations in Geneva on November 23.
She noted on Telegram that there will be no negotiations in Kyiv on the “peace plan,” as Trump previously announced.
Context
Ermak has headed the Office of the President since December 2020, he replaced Andrei Bogdan, who was the first head of the renamed department (before that he was the head of the Presidential Administration).
Calls for Ermak’s resignation arose against the backdrop of a corruption scandal in the Ukrainian energy sector involving Zelensky’s former business partner, co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio Timur Mindich (who left Ukraine).
On November 10, NABU announced Operation Midas to expose a “high-level criminal organization” that was engaged in extortion at Energoatom. According to the investigation, the state-owned company's contractors were offered to pay a kickback of 10% to 15% for goods and services, threatening to block payments from the budget or break off cooperation.
In total, four ministers from different parts of the Ukrainian government are involved in the Energoatom case, NABU reported. People's Deputy from “Voice” Yaroslav Zheleznyak claimed that Ermak is on the bureau's tapes in this case.
On the morning of November 28, Ermak reported that NABU was conducting searches at his home.
ZN.UA, citing sources, wrote that the searches at Ermak’s place may be related to the Dynasty housing and construction cooperative in Kyiv, which was mentioned in the media in connection with a number of development schemes and conflicts around land and development. In the investigation materials, he was linked to people from the OP’s circle, but there is no direct legal evidence, journalists noted. The UP, citing sources, informed that Ermak was not informed of the suspicion.
On November 28, Zelensky said that Ermak wrote a letter of resignation. Later, Zelensky’s decree on Ermak’s dismissal from the post of head of the OP appeared on the president’s website.
