President Volodymyr Zelensky’s dismissal of his longtime right-hand man opens a window for sweeping change inside Ukraine, leaving Mr. Zelensky without a figure to enforce discipline within Ukraine’s competitive politics, as Russia always looks for seams to exploit.
The departure of the aide, Andriy Yermak, on Friday amid a corruption investigation also removes Ukraine’s lead negotiator from difficult peace talks to end the largest war in Europe in generations. But as a Ukrainian delegation was scheduled to continue negotiations this weekend in the United States, now without Mr. Yermak, Ukrainian officials insisted that the dynamics around the talks would not be fundamentally changed.
Mr. Yermak, a former movie producer who has been close to Mr. Zelensky for years, had been a sharp-elbowed and imperious political operative, to the point that opposition politicians and journalists accused him of repression and abuse. Many cheered his exit.
In diplomacy to end the war, too, Mr. Yermak had seized a central role. He sidelined a former foreign minister who had good working relations with American and European governments. In the latest round of talks with the Trump administration, Mr. Zelensky had appointed Mr. Yermak to lead Ukraine’s delegation, despite the looming corruption investigation.
