Goodbye Zelensky, hello Yermak

This 52-year-old man has been described as "Zelensky's right-hand man" and "a real strongman in Ukraine", but, as "The Times" sources say, he has become more than that in the meantime.

"Yermak's authority surpassed that of all elected Ukrainian officials. Some sources went so far as to describe him in a series of interviews as the 'defacto head of state' or 'Vice President of Ukraine,'" writes the text authored by Maxim Tucker.

Tucker, who previously worked as Amnesty International's Ukraine campaigner, said he spoke with "government, military, law enforcement and diplomatic sources," many of whom requested anonymity.

He described Yermak as Zelensky's "biggest flaw", and his behavior as "thirst for power". "There is growing concern that Zelensky is relying on a handful of domestic sycophants," noted Tucker, pointing out that Yermak's team is growing.

According to Daria Kaleniuk, Executive Director of the Anticorruption Action Centre AntAC, "it is Zelensky's big mistake that he entrusted so much authority to Yermak, who is clearly intoxicated with power."

Military officials also blamed Yermak for firing General Valery Zaluzhny in February, seeing him as a rival. A spokesman for Zelenskiy's office denied this, saying that Zaluzhny was not fired, but was promoted to ambassador to Great Britain, "which means he enjoys a high level of trust."

The spokesperson of the presidential office, which Yermak leads, dismissed all criticism of the head of the cabinet as "propaganda attacks".

"Zelensky is the one who makes all the key decisions," insisted the spokesman. Yermak is a former film producer whom Zelensky – an actor turned politician – brought into the government in 2019. He recently started coming into the limelight, attending the "Democracy Summit" in Denmark along with former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The international working group on issues of security and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, of Yermak and Rasmussen, was the first to propose the lifting of all restrictions on the use of Western weapons supplied to Kyiv, which was quickly pushed by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The topic then spread to NATO capitals, and the White House agreed to it.