KYIV — If actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky’s top credential when he was elected in 2019 was that he’d played a president on TV, the top qualification of his all-powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, was being Zelensky’s friend.
The head of the office of the president, as Yermak’s post is formally known, has always wielded enormous influence in Ukraine. Wartime conditions, including martial law, have concentrated extraordinary authority in the presidential administration, making Yermak perhaps the most powerful chief of staff in the country’s history — virtually indistinguishable from his boss.
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Yermak and Zelensky so rarely appear without one another that Oleh Rybachuk, who served as chief of staff to then-President Viktor Yushchenko, said some wonder who is calling the shots, and if they are even separate people anymore.
“Yermak, unlike many of his predecessors, got there without any experience in government,” Rybachuk said. “He was, from the very beginning, repeating this mantra that, ‘My only dream, my only ambition is to be the shadow of the president, to be everywhere the president would like me to be.”
“This is how he portrays himself,” Rybachuk added, “as inseparable.”
Yermak’s closeness to the president — and evident influence over him — has drawn a barrage of accusations: that he has undemocratically consolidated power in the president’s office; overseen an unneeded purge of top officials, including commander in chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny; restricted access to Zelensky; and sought personal control over nearly every big wartime decision.
Now, however, the legitimacy of the president and his top adviser are about to face even bigger challenges as Zelensky’s five-year term officially expires on May 20. Ukraine’s constitution prohibits elections under martial law. But as Zelensky stays in office, he will be vulnerable to charges that he has used the war to erode democracy — seizing control over media, sidelining critics and rivals, and elevating Yermak, his unelected friend, above career civil servants and diplomats.
Some of these allegations are indisputable. Under a decree issued by Zelensky shortly after Russia’s invasion in February 2022, six major television stations have been broadcasting the same news content 24 hours a day, called the United News Telemarathon — which critics say has silenced dissent.
Any such accusations are certain to be promoted by Russia, which has initiated new military attacks in recent days and now occupies about one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory. Such allegations by Moscow would be hypocritical given how Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly circumvented term limits to stay in power. But Russia for decades has tried to sow internal divisions in Ukraine to destabilize the country and, experts say, the Kremlin will not miss a chance to exploit charges that Zelensky is abusing power. And no one embodies the power of Zelensky’s office more than Yermak.
“The Russians will use this,” one longtime Ukrainian official said of Zelensky’s expiring term. To maintain legitimacy, Zelensky “must have trust,” this official said, speaking, as many others did for this article, on the condition of anonymity to preserve political relations and to avoid retribution.
“His credibility is falling,” the official said, “because Yermak’s actions constantly reflect on the president.”
In interviews with more than a dozen current and former Ukrainian officials and lawmakers, foreign diplomats and others who know Yermak or work with him, even his supporters acknowledged that he wields unusually broad authority, over governance and external communication. Some said he even controls which other officials are allowed to travel abroad and when — a detail on which his office declined to comment.
Recently, critics say, as Zelensky’s circle of advisers has tightened, Yermak has sidelined the Foreign Ministry, interfered in military decisions and brokered key deals with partners, including the United States — a task they argue should be handled by the president.
