Mr Yermak has been Ukraine's lead negotiator in peace talks with Russia and the US, and he has been a trusted confidante of Mr Zelensky for years. The unprecedented searches at the heart of Ukraine's government come at a time when Kyiv is under intense US pressure to sign a peace deal nearly four years after Russia invaded. Russian forces have also been making slow but steady territorial gains in the east of Ukraine in recent months.
Andriy Yermak has served as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff since 2020. His resignation from the role comes after his office was searched amid a corruption investigation. Yermak has served as Zelenskyy's chief negotiator amid indirect peace talks between Ukraine and Russia which are mediated by the US (FILE: November 23, 2025) Image: Elodie Le Maou/AFP/Getty Images Andriy Yermak resigned as Ukrainian President's Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff on Friday.
It was Nawrocki's first trip to Prague since his election in June and came just under a week before a summit of presidents of the so-called Visegrad Group of Central European countries in Esztergom, Hungary, on December 3. The two men were keen to emphasize in the press briefing after their meeting that they were very much on the same page on most of the issues facing Europe, notably the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine's special operators said Saturday they took down a Russian Mi-8 helicopter with a long-range "deep strike" drone for the first time. The update didn't say where it happened, but it stressed the significance. They described the move as "changing the rules of the game: now we hunt!" Video released by Ukraine's Special Operations Forces appears to be footage from the drone as it flew over an enemy helicopter, drawing steadily closer before the clip cuts off.
A door about a hand's width opens into the frigid facility that protects the seeds that may one day play a fundamental role in the event of droughts, pests, floods, or the many other disasters that can ravage the earth and, consequently, the food supply for people and animals. Ukraine possesses an immense collection of biodiversity that cannot be found anywhere else. Who knows how useful it may be to us in the future. Its qualities can still be explored; it is like a treasure.