On January 18, 2022, about a month before the invasion, an anonymous Telegram channel “Pechersky Hill,” close to the former Speaker of Parliament Dmytro Razumkov, shared insider information. Allegedly, Yermak convinced Zelensky and his entire team that there would be no war. Therefore, Ukraine was not prepared for the invasion. Here is the text of that Telegram post:
“By the way, do you know what the Office of the President of Ukraine thinks about the possibility of a full-scale Russian invasion? The answer is − they don’t think about it at all. They are firmly convinced that there will be no invasion.
This explains why officials from the OP and Zelensky himself have not yet rushed to evacuate their families from the country and why the OP reacts with indifferent nonchalance to news like the Armed Forces of Ukraine being supplied with fuel for only 30%. Internal problems of the President’s Office are now of more concern than external threats.
The source of such exemplary optimism was the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak. He convinced his entire team that he had long settled everything with the Russians, that Ukraine is not threatened by anything, and all movements of Russian troops are exclusively a nerve game with Europe. It’s to make gas prices jump on European exchanges due to the threat of war and to make uncooperative Europe agree to the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Which, of course, will not be launched, because Yermak has already negotiated there too.
Yermak’s optimism managed to infect his surroundings to such an extent that messages are consistently sent to the “Servant of the People” faction in the Verkhovna Rada and to party centers in local areas: “Don’t panic. Everything is under control. There is no reason to worry”.
We have no idea how to comment on all this. The question arises, what does Zelensky do if it turns out that the head of his office… was mistaken? To put it mildly…”
Naturally, Yermak’s actions can be attributed to incompetence, considering that this trait is typical for people from Zelensky’s team. Especially since Yermak himself said that he “did not believe until the last” in the possibility of Russian invasion.
However, one should not forget that Zelensky received accurate information about the planned attack at least two days before the start of the war. Not to mention the American intelligence data starting from October-November.
Are two days a lot or a little? It is enough to blow up bridges on the border with Crimea and relocate some troops to the border with Belarus. Nevertheless, the President’s Office, represented by Yermak and Zelensky, even in those last days, prohibited any actions that could significantly increase the country’s defense capability. In August 2022, advisor to the head of the President’s Office Mykhailo Podoliak explained this by saying they “were psychologically not ready to blow up bridges”.
“That morning of February 24, we were psychologically not ready to blow up bridges. The first few hours we thought: we invested in comfort for people, how now to destroy all this? We thought that on the other side there were also people who would treat homes, bridges, and other infrastructure carefully,” Podoliak said.
Notice: Podoliak deliberately manipulates the date. It’s not just about the morning of February 24. Both Yermak and Zelensky already knew on February 22 that the war would start in two days. What role did Andriy Yermak play in Ukraine not being prepared for the invasion? Without any doubt, his role was key, as the head of the President’s Office had a significant influence on the incompetent Zelensky.
So who is Andriy Yermak, and why do many in Ukraine accuse him of treason, not just ordinary mistakes?
Andriy Yermak was born in 1971 in Kyiv. His mother is Russian from Saint Petersburg. His father worked at the Soviet embassy in Afghanistan in the 80s. Because of this, some Ukrainian journalists hinted at his father’s connection with the KGB. But Andriy Yermak categorically denies this. According to him, his father was a technical specialist in Afghanistan and had no relation to the Soviet special service.
In 1995, after graduating from the law faculty of the Institute of International Relations of Kyiv University, Andriy Yermak began working as a lawyer. Two years later, he founded his own law firm, which specialized in intellectual property protection. According to Yermak, his clients included representatives of Disney, Pixar, and Universal.
It should be noted that protecting copyright is not the most profitable business in Ukraine. Andriy Yermak apparently made his first big money by lobbying the interests of small business owners in Kyiv. Until 2006, about 3,500 small trade objects operated in the capital. Opening a trade kiosk of 4-6 square meters cost no more than $10,000 at that time. Each kiosk provided at least $500 of net profit every month.
After Leonid Chernovetsky was elected mayor of Kyiv, his team significantly expanded the issuance of permits for opening trade kiosks. Over five years, their number grew threefold: to 12,000. Most of those who received such permission did not even engage in business themselves: they leased kiosks to other entrepreneurs.
In 2010, power in the Kyiv mayor’s office changed. Instead of Chernovetsky, who fled abroad, Oleksandr Popov from Yanukovych’s team became the acting city head. In 2011, the new mayor decided to change the rules for kiosks. Now their owners were required to pay for the use of the capital’s land.
Entrepreneurs did not like the change in rules. They began to hold protest actions and united into a public organization called the “Association of Small Business Owners and Small Architectural Forms”. It was headed by lawyer Andriy Yermak.
The new organization began to protect the interests of the capital’s entrepreneurs. For example, it challenged the Kyiv City Council’s decision to ban the sale of alcohol and cigarettes in kiosks. For legal support, each kiosk owner paid Yermak monthly contributions.
In 2013, the future head of the President’s Office worked for some time as the manager of the elite clothing store “Sanahunt”. Yermak insists he only provided business consultations to the store owner and was not on the payroll of this company.
From there, Andriy Yermak’s career sharply took off. He became a film producer, participating in the creation of three quite successful films: “Squat 32”, “The Fight Rules”, and “The Line”. Since 2016, Yermak’s production company Garnet International Media Group received more than 53 million hryvnias (approximately $2 million) from the state for the production and promotion of films.
Yermak met Zelensky in 2010 when the comedian unexpectedly became the general producer of the “Inter” TV channel. It is known that for many years they regularly communicated and maintained friendly relations. There is even a photo taken in 2016 at a restaurant in the French city of Cannes, where Yermak dines at a table with Volodymyr and Olena Zelensky.
Before his appointment as head of the president’s office, Andriy Yermak was practically unknown to the general public: there were more colorful characters around Zelensky then. Journalists then liked to discuss Andriy Bohdan — the former lawyer of Kolomosky, who became the head of the President’s Office in June 2019.
Unlike Zelensky, who only jokes well according to a pre-written script, Bohdan was a real fountain of humor. He hardly resembled a lawyer and even less an influential politician. Bohdan had such a characteristic appearance for a comedic artist that even against the background of Zelensky, he gave the impression of someone who accidentally got into politics.
Zelensky and Bohdan worked together for only half a year. By the fall of 2019, the press received information that a large part of Bohdan’s duties was performed by his deputy Andriy Yermak. It is not known for certain what caused Zelensky to become uncomfortable working with the lawyer of his favorite oligarch, but in February 2020, Bohdan was forced to submit his resignation. Yermak became the head of the President’s Office.