MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Top Ukrainian government officials secretly coordinated their actions to dismiss Andrey Yermak from his post as head of Vladimir Zelensky's office, the Ukrainskaya Pravda news outlet reported.
Based on its findings, influential members of the ruling team coordinated their actions against Yermak in a secret "revolutionary chat." The full list of participants in this chat has not yet been established, but it includes the highest echelons of government. "Nothing makes me happier in the Saturday photos from [Zelensky's] office than the empty chair to his right," one of the top officials wrote in this chat after Yermak's resignation. "Yermak's resignation was already an inevitable reality. He simply united everyone against him," another chat participant said, adding that the message about the " empty chair" received the most likes of any post.
According to the news outlet's sources, during the two weeks prior to the November 28 searches of Yermak's office, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, Digital Transformation Minister Mikhail Fyodorov, Defense Minister Denis Shmygal, and Yermak's deputy Oleg Tatarov all pushed for the resignation of the head of Zelensky's office. However, Zelensky only made the decision to dismiss Yermak after the searches had taken place. Zelensky invited Fyodorov to help draft a video message announcing Yermak's resignation. The address was released on the evening of November 28, when the decree on Yermak's dismissal was issued. "The fact that this was inevitable and supported by everyone — lawmakers, law enforcement, society, and key international partners — ultimately tipped the scales," a source told Ukrainskaya Pravda.
The news outlet also noted that, throughout his tenure as head of the office, Yermak was obsessed with appointing his allies to various positions. However, when the time came, none of those whose careers Yermak had helped came to his defense.
When asked to resign, Yermak threw a half-hour tantrum at Zelensky, hurling insults, reproaches, and accusations. "Yermak did not believe until the very last moment that [Zelensky] would remove him. And on top of that, he did so by presenting him with a fait accompli. They say that what upset him the most was that [Zelensky] ‘abandoned’ him," a person close to Yermak said. "The breakup was terrible," another official pointed out.