MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Ukraine will face mass unrest and a new "Maidan" if Vladimir Zelensky doesn’t dismiss head of his office Andrey Yermak amid the corruption scandal sweeping his government, former Verkhovna Rada (parliament) speaker and lawmaker Dmitry Razumkov said.

"Will we see the resignation of [Zelensky's] office leadership tomorrow? If not, there is a possibility that we will see what the country experienced in 2004 and 2014 (2004 - the 'Orange Revolution,' 2014 - the coup d’etat known as 'Maidan' after the name of the square where the protesters initially gathered - TASS)," Razumkov wrote on his Telegram channel.

The lawmaker added that the government should also be "immediately dismissed and rechosen."

On November 10, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced a large-scale operation dubbed Midas to uncover a major corruption scheme in the energy sector. Searches were conducted at the home of Timur Mindich, who is often referred to as Zelensky’s "wallet," as well as at the residence of Justice Minister German Galuschenko, who had previously served as Minister of Energy, and at the Energoatom company. The NABU then began publishing excerpts from conversations in Mindich’s apartment, during which corruption schemes were discussed.

The disclosure of corruption in Zelensky's inner circle provoked a strong reaction in the Verkhovna Rada. The party of former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko (listed as a person involved in extremist activities or terrorism by Russia’s financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring) demanded Yermak's dismissal, the government's resignation, and the formation of a new parliamentary coalition with not only the pro-presidential Servant of the People party. Later, the party of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko joined the demands. In addition, there was information about a brewing rebellion within the ruling party. Some of its lawmakers also spoke about the need for Yermak's resignation and a change in the entire government.