OPINION: Ukraine – Ze Needs to Widen the Clearout

As the Energoatom scandal continues to break around President Volodymyr Zelensky, people are asking what is national security chief Rustem Umerov doing in Turkey this week. Turks don’t seem to know much. But it is useful for him to keep his head down outside the country as the scandal continues to break at home. Can he survive this one? I don’t think he is that key to the Turkish or Gulf relationship to be honest, to be a must-keep for Ze.

The whole Energoatom situation was clearly a PR disaster for Zelensky, coming on the back of the Pokrovsk situation evolving in a pretty bad way. It also comes as the Europeans are debating the immobilized Central Bank of Russia (CBR) asset issue – or the alternatives.

Europe putting its hand in its pocket for more funds while some members of the Zelensky administration – allegedly – having their hand in the same pocket taking cash out – is not a great look. It’s a gift to Putin which just underscores how treacherous the whole Energoatom scandal is really – if true – and why Ukrainians are so incensed by this. How these people could have been doing this, while troops are putting their lives on the line, is pretty unbelievable.

This could all still play out as a win for Zelensky if he is seen as finally addressing the corruption issue – and he has moved to force the resignation of his energy and justice ministers, finally. His efforts to now sanction his close business partners, after going after Kolomoisky on the PrivatBank case, kind of underscores that Ze eventually does the right thing, albeit unfortunately often too late. He can see this as an opportunity for a big clear out – it will be interesting then to see how the Umerov situation evolves, and whether his eventual resignation could draw the line for Ze.

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Ukraine, Estonia Sign Defense Pact Focused on Drones, Air Defense

During his visit to Estonia, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine and Estonia have signed a Joint Declaration on strengthening security and defense cooperation. The document covers the exchange of military experience, defense industry cooperation, and air defense, with a separate agreement under the Drone Deal format still in the works. Zelensky framed the declaration as part of broader joint action with European partners, alongside sanctions pressure and Ukraine’s EU membership path.

The winners in this will be Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrei Yermak, and the PM, Yulia Svyrdenko. Neither have been mentioned in the Energoatom case, and Svyrdenko is using this to push for a broader clear-out within the Zelensky team. Her position will be augmented, and she is close to Yermak. Svyrdenko is popular in the Trump administration, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s team, in particular, and her star will rise further now with Europeans.

Yermak is seen as a man who gets things done – and Zelensky will be increasingly dependent on him, as his fallback guy.

Reprinted from the author’s @tashecon blog! See the original article here.

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.