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Zelensky’s ex-Chief of Staff Yermak says ready to go to battlefront

The New York Post did not specifywhen the former Ukrainian senior state official intended to arrive at the frontline

Andrey Yermak AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

Andrey Yermak

© AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

WASHINGTON, November 29. /TASS/. Andrey Yermak, a former chief of staff of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, announced several hours later after his resignation that he was ready to head to the battlefront, the New York Post reported.

"I’m going to the front and am prepared for any reprisals… I am an honest and decent person," Yermak told the US-based daily in a text message.

"I don’t want to create problems for Zelensky; I’m going to the front," the daily quoted Yermak as saying without specifying when the former Ukrainian senior state official intended to arrive at the frontline.

On November 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), both independent from Zelensky’s office, announced an investigation into a major corruption scheme in the energy sector, dubbed Operation Midas.

Searches were conducted at the Energoatom energy company and the residences of entrepreneur Timur Mindich and the now suspended Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who served as the country’s energy minister at the time of the events that are being looked into. The investigation found that participants in the scheme had laundered around $100 mln.

NABU also started to release recordings of conversations from Mindich’s apartment, which revealed discussions of corrupt practices. On November 17, reports indicated that Andrey Yermak might appear in the Mindich case files under the pseudonym Ali Baba.

The corruption scandal triggered a profound crisis in the Ukrainian government: the parliament was suspended, and several MPs, including those from the ruling pro-presidential Servant of the People party, demanded the resignation of Zelensky’s Chief of Staff.

On November 28, it was reported that anti-corruption officials were conducting searches of Yermak's apartment and office. He himself confirmed that investigative actions were underway. Zelensky later announced that Yermak had submitted a resignation letter.

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