For opposition lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko, Yermak’s departure “shows that there’s zero tolerance for corruption and the president listens to the concerns of the people.” Others said his exit comes as a breath of fresh air.
But some opposition lawmakers questioned whether Zelenskyy will seize the moment to pursue more inclusive politics.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze told POLITICO she remains unsure if the drama will change the way Zelenskyy governs. “Exactly that is the question. The way of governing has to go back to the constitution. Parliament has to regain its agency,” she said.
“That means the president has to agree to talk to all factions, we have to review the relationship in the parliament and form a real government of national unity, which will be accountable to the parliament, not the presidential office,” she added.
Iuliia Mendel, a Ukrainian journalist and former Zelenskyy adviser-turned-critic, told POLITICO that Yermak’s resignation was “a desperate reaction to unbearable pressure.”
“Zelenskyy has no real replacement ready because he never thought things would go this far. But the heat got so intense that it boiled down to the simplest choice: him or Yermak. And Zelenskyy picked himself,” she added.
But Mendel harbors some doubt that things will really change much. “Yermak might just stay the shadow puppeteer,” she warned.