Key Zelensky adviser confirms much effort ongoing to end Donbas war

Andriy Yermak, a presidential aide who is among
Zelensky’s closest advisers, said on Nov. 23 opposition politicians are acting
to undermine attempts at peace because they have an interest in extending the
war in Donbas. “There are a series of politicians in Ukraine for whom it’s
disadvantageous for the war to end,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “It’s
disadvantageous for them because they are profiting off of it, both materially
and politically, boosting their ratings.”

Current information attacks against him in the mass
media will grow, said Yermak, referring to recent reports that he has business
ties to Arkady Rotenberg, a Russian oligarch with close ties to President
Putin. These baseless attacks are occurring because president’s team is making
“much effort for the war to end, and for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and
sovereignty to be renewed,” he said.

The European Solidarity party founded by former
President Poroshenko demanded in a Nov. 13 statement the dismissal of Yermak as
presidential aide for “pro-Kremlin messages.” That claim is based on the
impeachment testimony of acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, Jr.,
who said that in a private conversation, Yermak blamed Poroshenko for the war
in Donbas. In response to the Nov. 13 statement, both Yermak and Taylor denied
any statement made by Yermak was intended to shift blame for the war from
Putin, as alleged by the European Solidarity party.

Yermak is a lawyer who has also built a career in
filmmaking. Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal identified Yermak and Foreign
Minister Vadym Prystaiko as playing key roles in the foreign policy of
President Zelensky in an interview with the bihus.info news site published on
Nov. 19. Yermak is responsible for the president’s communications with the
Kremlin, she said.

Zenon Zawada: Yermak’s
Facebook post is valuable because it confirms the Zelensky administration is
heavily invested in achieving an end to the war in Donbas. We also share
Yermak’s widely held view that the war in Donbas had become for numerous
politicians an instrument for financial gain and political manipulations (tying
patriotism to their success). Yermak is correct in stating the attacks against
the administration, and him personally, will intensify, but for the reason that
the Zelensky administration is likely to compromise more than what the
pro-Western electorate is willing to accept.