We must not give the Russians the slightest opportunity to blame us for the slow peace process, Andrij Jermak has hammered out in interviews and debate articles in recent weeks.
On the one hand, he has pointed to Russia's unwillingness to enter into a proper ceasefire. On the other hand, he has lavished praise on Donald Trump's ability to bring the process to a conclusion.
I believe that the USA and its strong leader have the power, Jermak said in an interview with the German Die Welt ahead of last week's meetings.
The Ukrainian is President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff and closest man. In his role, Jermak has acted as a diplomat against both Russia and the USA for a longer period.
From the film industry
If Zelensky has the leading role, then Jermak is the producer. And that was literally about a decade ago, when the two were colleagues at the same TV company.
Jermak, film producer and lawyer, became close friends with Zelensky before and during his unlikely path from playing the president in a TV series to becoming the real president. When Zelensky was sworn in in 2019, he chose Jermak as one of several advisors. As such, he got more and more tasks, including unofficial contacts with Russia that led to successful prisoner exchanges.
He also became an intermediary in the international scandal where Donald Trump tried to persuade Zelensky to direct criminal suspicions against Trump's then challenger Joe Biden and his family. That affair ended with him being put on trial, which is still said to be fresh in his mind.
The anger is not only directed at Zelensky, it is also directed at Jermak, a Ukrainian government source told The Telegraph as recently as March.
"Good cop, bad cop"
Andrij Jermak was long reported to be physically close to the president as possible. Over time, he became the chief of staff. Many in Ukraine began to title him informal extra president in a situation where the president's camp was accused of acting increasingly autocratically.
Then came the great invasion. When Russian forces advanced towards Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky stood on Kyiv's streets in the middle of the night and proclaimed that he would not go anywhere. Next to him stood Andrij Jermak. During the months that followed, they led Ukraine's defense and diplomacy from a bunker under the presidential palace.
The chief of staff is the president's fixer, now with extraordinary powers. As a diplomat described it to The Washington Post: Zelensky is "the good cop" and Jermak "the bad cop".
Zelensky did not get a meeting with Putin in Turkey last week. Instead, it was Jermak who got to sit down with the Russians.
Chief of staff to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Born 1971 and grew up in Kyiv in the then-Ukrainian Soviet republic, with a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother from St. Petersburg. The father had a high-ranking position at the Soviet embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in the 1980s.
Has, as far as known, no family.
Educated lawyer and has worked with copyright issues and a focus on the entertainment industry. Producer of several films.
Appointed 2019 as an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he had known for many years beforehand. The following year, he became and has today also positions in Ukraine's highest military leadership and security organs.
Appointed 2024 as one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine.
