Beneath the ceremonial optimism, the latest five-hour long talks between Russian President Putin and US President Trump's senior negotiators left us exactly where we were: with no real breakthrough and no resolved terms. The meeting focused exclusively on the discussion of Trump’s 28 point-peace plan, which had reportedly been cut to 19-points following revisions made by European leaders. And while both sides expressed the talks were ‘constructive’ and ‘informed’, the most pressing issues remain unresolved. Zelenskyy, too, insisted Ukraine is ‘closer to peace than ever’, though its position at the table is now visibly weakened by a corruption scandal consuming its inner circle. Let’s unpack how the latest developments are unfolding and what this means for the sides involved. 

Ukraine enters this stage of negotiations under exceptional domestic pressure. On November 29, Andrey Yermak, former head of the Ukrainian president’s office and the country’s chief negotiator in the peace process, announced his resignation following a raid on his home by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP). This was reportedly part of a wider corruption investigation in the energy sector that first surfaced in early November with the ‘Mindich-gate’, but was muffled by news of the Trumpian peace-plan and now resurfaced with an even bigger scandal. 

So, who is Andrey Yermak and why did his resignation spark such turbulence in Ukraine’s wartime governance? Yermak was more than just the President’s chief of staff; he was a long-time associate of Zelenskyy’s, his ‘gatekeeper’, and one of the most powerful unelected figures in the country. Formerly an intellectual property lawyer and a film producer (who worked with Zelenskyy in his actor days), Yermak joined the presidential team in 2019 as an aide on foreign policy and by 2020 was appointed head of the Office of the President. Not long after his appointment, Yermak received backlash from his involvement in the ‘Wagnergate’ scandal,  when a Ukrainian intelligence operation to capture Russian mercenaries was allegedly canceled on his orders. He soon became described as a ‘shadow prime minister’, shaping key executive appointments, and increasingly managing both domestic and foreign policy.  

Domestically, Yermak was said to have overseen the selection of ministers and heads of key state agencies, and even some areas of law enforcement. A recent report by Chatham House claimed he was a ‘mastermind behind the centralisation of power’, and was therefore a widely unpopular among parts of Ukraine’s political elite, even as he remained indispensable to Zelenskyy.  

At the same time, Yermak handled some of the most sensitive issues of Ukraine’s foreign relations, spoke directly with national security advisers from allied countries, and led Ukraine’s latest round of peace negotiations with the United States, including talks in Geneva with Secretary of State Marco Rubio just days before his resignation. 

The turning point in his career was the Energoatom scandal, which first emerged earlier in November, when investigators from NABU and SAPO uncovered evidence of a long-running scheme in which insiders allegedly skimmed 10–15% from procurement and energy contracts tied to Ukraine’s nuclear sector, a particularly sensitive industry during wartime, when energy outages and blackouts are a matter of national security. The scandal implicated senior figures close to Zelenskyy, including two ministers, a former deputy prime minister, and notably, Timur Mindich (Zelenskyy’s former business partner from the Kvartal 95 years), who fled abroad just hours before investigators attempted to detain him. 

Initially, the revelations were partly drowned out by the diplomatic noise surrounding Trump’s peace initiative. But on November 28, when news surfaced on NABU and SAPO’s raid of Yermak’s Kyiv residence, the situation escalated from a systemic investigation to one implicating Zelenskyy’s inner circle. The day after the raid, Yermak resigned. Zelenskyy announced the departure in a late-afternoon video message, emphasizing that “there should be no reason to be distracted by anything other than the defence of Ukraine”. Until that point, however, Zelenskyy had publicly assured his own party faction that Yermak would not be dismissed. So, what changed the President’s mind?

Quite simply: once law-enforcement authorities entered Yermak’s home, Zelenskyy could no longer treat the matter as a peripheral investigation. The search made Yermak directly connected to a scandalous corruption case amidst critical war-time conditions. Keeping him in the post would have sparked a political crisis in Ukraine, undermining the credibility of both the administration and the negotiation process Yermak was leading. And, with increasing pressures from Washington and Moscow, Zelenskyy could not afford having Ukraine represented by someone with a dubious reputation. 

So, why is Yermak’s resignation a watershed in Ukrainian domestic politics and what does it mean for the trajectory of the peace process?

Zelenskyy’s dismissal of his right-hand man and long-time friend has been interpreted in two ways. Some in Kyiv view it as a necessary reset. As Guardian journalist Gumenyuk noted, many Ukrainians are likely to accept Yermak’s removal as a corrective step - a sign that the president is willing to clean up his own administration at a critical moment. Domestically, dismissing Yermak aligned with public sentiment: a July 2025 Chatham House survey found that 64% of Ukrainians saw fighting corruption as the top wartime priority. Several MPs from Zelenskyy’s party, too, publicly praised the decision as proof that national interests were placed above personal ties. 

But others argue the move came too late. A former government official told CNN that many Ukrainians will now be asking what Zelenskyy knew, and when. “On the one side, you have his close ally, on the other side, you have his close friend, his former business partner,” the official said, referring to Yermak and Mindich, “do you really think the president wasn’t aware about this?”. 

In terms of foreign policy, Yermak’s resignation makes space for a more pragmatic approach in the peace talks with Washington. Notorious for his uncompromising, hard-line style, he often drove Kyiv toward its firmest negotiating positions. And while Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's new chief negotiator, stepped in to replace Yermak in the peace talks, it is safe to assume he will not wield the same level of trust or personal authority Yermak exercised in the process.

For now, the negotiating landscape looks more uncertain than it did even a week ago. Putin’s meeting with U.S. envoys ended without progress; Kyiv has been asked to revise its proposals yet again; and European leaders are scrambling to stay aligned as Russia intensifies strikes across Ukraine. The next phase of talks will therefore depend as much on Ukraine’s internal stability as on whether Washington and Moscow can decide on a framework that Kyiv is still willing to accept. What is clear is that the process has entered a far more fragile stage, with no guarantees that the diplomatic momentum of the past months will survive the pressures now unfolding on all sides.