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'I want there to be no rumours and speculation,' Zelenskyy says as Yermak resigns
In a speech published on his Telegram channel, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a plan to “reboot” his office with his chief aide, Andriy Yermak, resigning from the post.
He says Yermak has submitted his resignation earlier today.
“I am grateful to Andriy for always presenting the Ukrainian position in the negotiation track exactly as it should be. It has always been a patriotic position. But I want there to be no rumors and speculation,” he says.
He will hold “consultations” on who could take over the role tomorrow, he says.
Zelenskyy explained that the move came as Ukraine needed “internal strength” at a time of key talks about a potential peace deal.
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Strikes and protests in Italy on Friday against Giorgia Meloni’s government caused the cancellation of dozens of flights and disrupted train services around the country.
The hardline USB union and smaller worker organisations called the one-day action against the government’s plans to raise military spending and its support for Israel.
Recent years have seen the emergence of the USB as an aggressive grass-roots union which is challenging the traditional dominance of the three main confederations, the left-wing CGIL and the centrist CISL and UIL.
Milan’s Malpensa cancelled at least 27 flights, while Bologna scrapped at least 17. Other affected airports include Milan’s Linate, Naples and Venice.
Italy’s flagship carrier ITA Airways said it had cancelled 26 domestic flights due to the strikes.
Yermak formally dismissed from post
And here’s the official confirmation: the presidential decree formally dismissing Yermak from the post.
Ahead of peace talks earlier this year, my colleague Pjotr Sauer offered this helpful snap profile of Yermak, describing his unprecedented position at the heart of the Ukrainian government:
Andriy Yermak is Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff and widely regarded as the country’s second most powerful figure after the country’s president.
A former entertainment lawyer and film producer, Yermak became a close confidant of Zelenskyy during his media career and joined his political team in 2019.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Yermak has emerged as a central figure in Ukraine’s wartime leadership.
He oversees foreign policy, intelligence coordination, and high-level diplomacy, including prisoner exchanges and peace negotiations.
His influence is so extensive that he has been dubbed Ukraine’s “Green Cardinal” and “de facto vice-president”. Yermak’s prominence has drawn praise and controversy, with critics accusing him of centralising power.
He’s now gone from the administration.
Jakub Krupa
Yermak’s resignation just hours after his property was raided by anti-corruption agencies is clearly at attempt to quickly move past the controversy which comes at what is probably the worst possible moment for Ukraine as it faces growing pressure from allies and enemies alike, and in particular from the increasingly impatient US administration under Donald Trump.
But let’s make no mistake: this is a massive, massive moment for Zelenskyy and Ukraine.
'Russia really wants Ukraine to make mistakes,' Zelenskyy says ahead of talks with US 'in near future'
In the speech, Zelenskyy also spoke about the upcoming further peace talks, including meetings with the US “in the near future.”
In a longer passage on the position Ukraine finds itself in, he says that “Russia really wants Ukraine to make mistakes,” but insists: “There will be no mistakes on our part.”
“Our work continues. Our struggle continues. We have no right not to press on. We have no right to retreat or collapse,” he says.
'I want there to be no rumours and speculation,' Zelenskyy says as Yermak resigns
In a speech published on his Telegram channel, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a plan to “reboot” his office with his chief aide, Andriy Yermak, resigning from the post.
He says Yermak has submitted his resignation earlier today.
“I am grateful to Andriy for always presenting the Ukrainian position in the negotiation track exactly as it should be. It has always been a patriotic position. But I want there to be no rumors and speculation,” he says.
He will hold “consultations” on who could take over the role tomorrow, he says.
Zelenskyy explained that the move came as Ukraine needed “internal strength” at a time of key talks about a potential peace deal.
Zelenskyy's closest aide Yermak resigns after property raid
Big, big news from Ukraine.
More in a moment.
Talks on post-Brexit UK joining EU's SAFE fund collapse
Meanwhile, talks on the UK joining the European Union’s flagship £130bn defence fund have failed, PA Media reported.
Negotiations foundered over how much the UK should pay to participate in the EU’s Security Action for Europe (Safe) rearmament fund, the news agency said.
Reports suggested the post-Brexit UK rejected French demands to pay up to £5bn to participate in the scheme.
Minister for European Union relations Nick Thomas-Symonds said it was “disappointing” but the UK was focused on obtaining “value for money”.
“Negotiations were carried out in good faith, but our position was always clear: we will only sign agreements that are in the national interest and provide value for money,” he said.
PA noted that the Safe scheme will provide up to 150 billion euros in “competitively priced, long-maturity loans” to EU member states requesting financial assistance for investments in defence capabilities, with the UK hoping to be one of the partner countries that could participate in joint procurement exercises, potentially benefiting British firms.
You can find more on this over on our UK blog led by Andrew Sparrow (13:42).
Now, let me bring you some first political reactions from Ukraine after this morning’s news of that Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies searched the property of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s closest aide, Andriy Yermak.
Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker from Zelenskyy’s party who serves as head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told Ukrainian outlet Glavkom the scandal could have a negative impact on talks, Reuters reported.
Another pro-Zelenskyy lawmaker, Bohdan Yeremenko, went further, writing on Facebook that it would be “impossible to save” Yermak.
“There is no such friendship that would be worth a good name,” he said.
Polish prosecutors charge five people for allegedly acting for foreign intelligence services
Meanwhile, Polish authorities have charged five people alleging they acted for foreign intelligence services of an unspecified country and threatened Poland’s security by taking photographs of critical infrastructure and putting up posters and graffiti, the public prosecutor’s office said.
The group consists of two Ukrainians (including an teenage girl) and three Belarusians. Four of them have been detained pending trial, with the fifth one only placed under travel restrictions due to his ill health.
The prosecutors alleged the group was recruited via online messaging services to act for foreign intelligence services of an unspecified country, with alleged activities taking place between March 2024 and February 2025. They are believed to have been paid in cryptocurrencies. If convicted, they could face jail for between 5 to 30 years.
The arrests come amid a broader crackdown on foreign – primarily Russian – intelligence activities in Poland, after a recent Russian rail sabotage attack on a busy line to Ukraine.
Poland has repeatedly blamed Russia for the attack, accusing it of “state terrorism.”
Germany places Ukrainian man suspected of Nord Stream explosions in custody
Meanwhile, German authorities have placed a Ukrainian man in custody who is suspected of damaging the Nord Stream pipelines over three years ago, AP reported.
A judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe issued an arrest warrant on Friday for 49-year-old Ukrainian Serhii K. and ordered he be held in custody, federal prosecutors said.
K. arrived in Germany on Thursday after Italy’s highest court approved his extradition earlier this month. He was detained on a European arrest warrant in August at a campground near the Adriatic coastal city of Rimini, Italy, where he was vacationing with his family.
In contrast, in October, a Polish court blocked the extradition to Germany of another Ukrainian man suspected of involvement in the 2022 attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline and ordered his release.
Belgium's de Wever worried about using frozen Russian assets in case of Russian war victory
Jennifer Rankin
in Brussels
In language that will dismay many of Ukraine’s EU backers, the Flemish nationalist also suggested in his letter that Ukraine could lose the war.
“In the very probable event Russia is ultimately not officially the losing party, it will, as history has shown in other cases, be legitimately asking for its sovereign assets to be returned,” De Wever said.
EU leaders failed to agree on the idea in October, but are under added pressure to finalise the plan after the White House revealed its thinking on Russia’s frozen assets, which are mostly held in Europe, above all Belgium.
The controversial US-led 28-point plan that emerged last week proposed that $100bn (£76bn) in frozen Russian assets would be invested in “US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine”, with the US reaping 50% of profits from the venture. The rest of Russia’s frozen assets would be invested in a US-Russian investment vehicle focused on joint projects.
These ideas are understood to have been removed from the latest version of the plan to end the war, but have underscored for European leaders the urgency of acting quickly.
“The US proposal has maybe sharpened some European minds,” Latvia’s former prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš told the Guardian, saying he had been taken aback by the original proposals on the funds.
There had been “the realisation that things could go very, very differently [so] better to keep those funds under European control and therefore take some decisions in Europe which would preclude anyone else getting their hands on the assets”, he said.
The assets are seen as a key element of upping pressure on Russia, as well as a means of funding Ukraine’s defence at a time when many EU governments are grappling with tight budgets or deficits.
EU leaders are due to discuss the idea at a summit on 18 and 19 December, having already pledged to meet Ukraine’s funding needs. Kyiv is estimated to need €136bn to maintain its defence and keep the country running in 2026 and 2027.
The Belgian government said it wanted to see a legal text and has faulted the lack of detail about risk-sharing with the other 26 member states if the plan goes wrong.
Brussels has also called for legal proposals on common EU borrowing to fund Ukraine, using unspent funds in the EU budget as the guarantee. De Wever argues this option would be cheaper than using the assets, once the risks are factored in.
The commission has suggested money for Ukraine could be funded by common borrowing on capital markets, but member states are unenthusiastic.
Germany, Sweden, as well as central and eastern European states and von der Leyen, argue the frozen assets plan is the best option.
Let’s bring you a bit more on de Wever’s letter on frozen Russian assets, from Jennifer Rankin.
Both leaders also took a swipe at Viktor Orbán for his visit to Moscow.
Merz said that the EU leaders “have been aware of Viktor Orbán’s position for years,” recalling his visit to Moscow last years, just days after assuming the EU presidency, which he said was unsuccessful and followed by brutal attacks on Ukraine.
“He’s travelling without a European mandate and without consulting us,” he stressed.
Picking up this theme, Golob said that the Hungarian leader “has not played with the European team for some time and that visit comes within that context.”
Germany's Merz says agreeing on frozen Russian assets is 'increasingly urgent'
But other countries are growing impatient, with German chancellor Friedrich Merz saying today that he saw the need to use frozen Russian assets as “increasingly urgent.”
Speaking alongside Slovenian prime minister Robert Golob, Merz said that “Ukraine needs our support [as] Russian attacks are intensifying” ahead of winter.
“I hope that we can come to a joint solution within the European Union,” he said.
Merz added that he discussed this also bilaterally with de Wever, saying he thinks his arguments are “valid,” but adding: “I believe we also have valid arguments to achieve our shared goal, to exert maximum pressure on Russia to end this war.”
He said that Russian threats, of legal action and others, are “not unfamiliar to us,” but insisted the use of frozen asserts was the right idea.
Responding for Slovenia, Golob said the latest proposal discussed by him with Merz on frozen assets is “a very good compromise,” and he insisted that getting to an agreement with Belgium remained in his view possible.
Commission 'trying to make sure concerns ... are addressed' on use of frozen Russian assets
For what it’s worth, the European Commission’s spokesperson Paula Pinho confirmed the commission received de Wever’s letter at her press briefing earlier today.
She said the commission was finalising its proposal, and has consulted extensively with its in-house legal teams.
“We have a very solid, excellent team of lawyers in the Commission, as you know, who has given many … examples of its excellence. So we are fully confident [about] our teams of lawyers who are part of the commission staff,” she said.
She added:
“What we are trying to do is to really make sure that the concerns that have been expressed and notably by Belgium and the prime minister are addressed in a satisfactory manner, so that everybody is comfortable with the positions that are being put forward by the commission.”
Belgium hits back at calls to use Russia's frozen assets to fund Ukraine
Jennifer Rankin
in Brussels
Meanwhile, Belgium has hit back against an EU plan to use Russia’s frozen assets to aid Ukraine, describing the scheme as “fundamentally wrong” and throwing into doubt how Europe will fund Kyiv.
In a sharply worded letter Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, said the proposal violated international law and would instigate uncertainty and fear in financial markets, damaging the euro currency. “These risks are unfortunately not academic but real,” he wrote to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
As well as “systemic risks for the EU as a financial marketplace” De Wever warns about Euroclear being sued by Russians with a claim on the assets, landing the Belgian government with the multi-billion euro bill.
He insists he will not sign off on the scheme unless all Belgium’s concerns are addressed including “a full guarantee to be provided by willing member states” if the loan goes wrong, according to the letter seen by the Guardian, which was first reported by Politico.
The Flemish nationalist leader also argues that moving forward with the reparations loan plan would prevent the EU from reaching a peace deal, because the Russian assets would not be available for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Belgium hosts €183bn of Russian assets, around two thirds of Russian assets immobilised in the west, at the Brussels-based central securities depository Euroclear.
The intervention comes amid growing pressure on the EU to agree the use of Russia’s frozen assets to aid Ukraine, after a US-led plan to end the war called into question Europe’s control of the funds.
The commission is expected to imminently present a draft legal text on using Russian assets immobilised in Europe as the basis for a €140bn (£122bn) loan for Ukraine.
Putin praises Orbán's 'balanced' position on Ukraine as they discuss energy deliveries
Meanwhile, Hungary’s Orbán has met with Russia’s Putin in Moscow in another show of close relations between the two leaders and countries and much to the frustration of the EU.
Welcoming him to the Kremlin, Putin praised Orbán’s “balanced” position on Ukraine, after Hungary repeatedly tried to block further sanctions on Russia.
He also said he would still be happy for his next summit with the US president, Donald Trump, to take place in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, as briefly discussed in October.
For his part, Orbán insisted that Russia remained part of “Hungary’s energy supply now and will remain so in the future,” once again despite EU’s plans to phase out this source.
