The Fall of the Grey Cardinal: Yermak Resigns After Raids, Leaving Ukraine's Zelensky Isolated
As corruption investigators probe a $100M scandal and lawmakers push for a national unity government, Ukraine’s wartime president faces his most precarious political moment since the invasion began.
Andriy Yermak, the influential chief of staff of Ukraine’s President, has resigned hours after the country’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) conducted searches in his office. The resignation was confirmed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his regular video address to the Ukrainian people on November 28. Zelenskyy said that he was “grateful” to Yermak, who had been leading the Ukrainian delegation for talks with the United States in Geneva last week about a potential settlement of the war in Ukraine. “The Ukrainian position in the negotiation track has always been presented as it should be,” Zelenskyy said. “It has always been a patriotic position. But I want there to be no rumors and speculation.” He added that he would hold consultations on November 29 with the chief of the General Staff, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and other officials on finding a replacement for Yermak. Earlier in the day NABU said in a statement that it was searching the Yermak’s office and added that the “investigative actions are authorized and are being carried out as part of the investigation. Details to follow.” A correspondent for Ukrainian media outlet Ukrayinska Pravda reporting from the scene shared images of anti-corruption agency employees entering the government district in Kyiv, but did not provide further details. Shortly afterward, Yermak’s office confirmed that they were fully cooperating with the investigators. Yermak is considered to be one of the most powerful officials in Ukraine, but his position had become the subject of much speculation after Ukraine was rocked by a corruption scandal in recent weeks when it was revealed that funds meant for the country’s vulnerable energy infrastructure have been siphoned off. Several influential individuals with links to Zelenskyy have been implicated in the scheme.Ever since the corruption scandal broke, several Ukrainian lawmakers, including from Zelenskyy’s own “Servant of the People” political faction had called for Yermak to step down. Speaking ahead of the resignation, Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta Center for Political Studies in Kyiv, told RFE/RL that Zelenskyy faces “a difficult choice. Especially since Yermak is also the head of the delegation in negotiations with the United States regarding ending the war…In my view, temporary removal would be the most balanced compromise option -- at least for the duration of the investigation.” - RFE/RL
Opposition politicians will use Yermak’s firing over a $100 million corruption scandal to press home their demand for a national unity government in Kyiv, something they’ve urged ever since Russia launched its full-scale invasion nearly four years ago, and Yermak’s exit will embolden those factions, write’s POLITICO’s Jamie Dettmer. “I didn’t believe it was possible that he would ever go,” said one former senior Ukrainian official, who asked not to be identified so as “not to be seen as dancing on Yermak’s grave.” Former Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze told POLITICO she remains unsure if the drama will change the way Zelenskyy governs. “Exactly that is the question. The way of governing has to go back to the constitution. Parliament has to regain its agency,” she said. “That means the president has to agree to talk to all factions, we have to review the relationship in the parliament and form a real government of national unity, which will be accountable to the parliament, not the presidential office,” she added. “Yermak might just stay the shadow puppeteer,” warned a former close aide to Zelensky.
Live from Cape Town, South Africa, I break down the stunning resignation of Andriy Yermak, the powerful Chief of Staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky — a figure often described as Ukraine’s “Grey Cardinal”. Yermak stepped down just hours after his home and office were raided by anti-corruption agents. For years he has been Zelensky’s closest advisor, gatekeeper of appointments, chief diplomat, and constant presence at the president’s side. In this CNN interview I explain:
— Why Yermak’s fall is seismic inside Kyiv
— How it leaves Zelensky isolated at a moment of national peril
— Why we are about to see an untested Zelensky leading without his most influential aide
— What this means for the controversial U.S.–Russia peace plan, drafted largely without Kyiv or European input
— Russia’s push for readmission into the G7 and even amnesty from war-crimes prosecution
— How G20 host South Africa expressed openness to bringing Russia back into the fold
With Ukraine already fighting on a knife’s edge, this sudden political earthquake raises serious questions about Kyiv’s stability, Western resolve, and the future of the war.
In Hong Kong, 128 people, including a firefighter, have been confirmed dead in one of the region’s deadliest fires, the South China Morning Post reported. The fire was first reported at 2.51pm on Wednesday and soon grew into an inferno, with huge plumes of dark smoke billowing high into the sky, and the flames quickly spreading to seven of the eight blocks in the estate. Initial footage showed bamboo scaffolding outside several flats rapidly bursting into spiralling flames, before being completely engulfed in multiple towering columns of fire. Burning sections of green scaffolding mesh fell to the ground. At least 16 bodies are still in the buildings. Seventy-nine people have been injured, including 12 firefighters and the status of 200 people are unclear. Today, more bodies have been retrieved from the fire scene wrapped in black bags, while full-scale rescue work is ongoing, with a woman, an elderly man and pets evacuated. The eight residential blocks in the estate had been undergoing renovations since July 2024, covered in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh. Authorities say highly flammable styrofoam material used in renovation works caused fire to spread rapidly. The government has launched criminal investigations to find cause of blaze. Two directors with Will Power Architects, consultant firm of the renovation company arrested by Independent Commission Against Corruption on Friday. Three senior staff members of renovation company Prestige Construction & Engineering Co Limited earlier arrested for alleged manslaughter. The ICAC launches corruption probe into repair works that had price tag of HK$330 million
More than a year before a fire devoured a complex of high-rise towers in Hong Kong, residents alerted officials about potential fire safety violations on a renovation project there. As far back as September 2024, the estate’s residents had raised concerns to the city government about those materials. They wrote to the city’s Labor Department saying that the netting may be flammable, according to the residents’ emails reviewed by The New York Times. They also raised concerns about the foam panels, according to Jason Poon Chuk-hung, a civil engineer-turned-activist who teamed up with the residents in raising their complaints. On Friday, city officials told reporters that the foam boards were highly flammable and had helped the fire spread at a terrible speed. The Labor Department, which oversees workplace safety issues, at first wrongly dismissed the residents’ concerns about the netting, claiming that there were no rules on the use of flammable materials on scaffolding, the department acknowledged in a statement. Later, it told residents the materials on the construction site met fire safety requirements, citing documents filed by the contractor, Prestige Construction and Engineering - NYT
US President Donald Trump said during a Thanksgiving call on Thursday with military personnel that operations against drug trafficking in Venezuela might involve ground operations, though he provided no details about the plan or its execution. The US president said there was an 85% reduction in drug trafficking in waters where more than 20 vessels have been destroyed since 1 September in both the Caribbean and Pacific. “They’ve probably noticed that people don’t want to deliver drugs by sea anymore, and we’re going to start stopping them by land as well. By land is easier, and that’s going to start very soon,” Trump said from Florida. He justified the military action by stating drug traffickers “are sending their poison into the United States, where they kill thousands of people a year.” The United States deployed its largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, to the Caribbean on 16 November, accompanied by five destroyers and two missile cruisers - Euronews
Though Mariah Carey says she doesn’t want a lot for Christmas in her signature holiday song, she certainly gets a lot. The Independent’s analysis of data from Forbes and The Economist finds that the singer earns between $2.5 million and $3 million in residuals each year from her hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The song’s co-writer, Walter Afanasieff, also takes home a significant residual check. Carey’s 1994 hit, the most-streamed holiday song of all time, earned more than $100 million by 2023, according to the Associated Press. It is also the first and only holiday song to win the RIAA’s Diamond Award, recognizing more than 10 million sales and streaming units in the United States. Carey makes an annual social tradition of “defrosting” the song on November 1st. This year, she celebrated the start of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” season with a video where she shrieked, “It’s time!” in a skit with comedian Billy Eichner.
The journals….
