Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed who is in the running to become his new chief of staff. The previous head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, resigned in late November, marking a stunning fall for someone widely considered the second most powerful figure in Ukraine. Yermak’s ouster came amid the biggest political scandal of Zelensky’s presidency: a $100-million kickback scheme that anti-corruption investigators uncovered in the country’s energy sector. Faced with the pressures of Russia’s ongoing invasion and the Trump administration’s latest push to negotiate a peace deal, Zelensky said on Tuesday that “it feels like it would be easier to abolish the [President’s] Office than to appoint someone” as Yermak’s replacement. Meduza breaks down who Zelensky has put on his shortlist for this key position.
Denys Shmyhal
Defense minister
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Denys Shmyhal served from 2019 to 2020 as governor of Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region. From February to March 2020, Shmyhal served as the minister for development of communities and territories. He was then appointed prime minister, a role he held until July 2025. Shmyhal then became Ukraine’s defense minister.
Ukrainian and Western media have offered mixed reports on Shmyhal’s relationship with Zelensky. In the summer of 2024, Ukrainska Pravda reported that Zelensky was considering firing him as prime minister. “The President is tired of Shmyhal; this is obvious from his attitude in meetings,” a source from Zelensky’s team claimed at the time. “Zelensky constantly wants some creative solutions and proposals, and while Shmyhal has grown in recent years, he can’t change completely.”
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Nevertheless, Shmyhal remained in his post and ultimately became Ukraine’s longest-serving prime minister. Later, in July 2025, Bloomberg reported that Shmyhal was being considered as a potential replacement for Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States — a key ally for Kyiv.
Shmyhal is known not only for his professionalism but also for his apparent lack of political ambition. However, as Novaya Gazeta Europe’s Kyiv correspondent Olga Musafirova has noted, Shmyhal has “avoided major scandals” and “didn’t make any obvious mistakes” during his tenure as prime minister.
Mykhailo Fedorov
Digital transformation minister
Mykhailo Fedorov was Zelensky’s digital campaign manager during his successful presidential run in 2019. He then became an external advisor to the president and was elected to parliament on the Servant of the People party’s ticket. In August 2019, Fedorov was appointed to the government as digital transformation minister.
Now 34 years old, Fedorov is Ukraine’s youngest-ever cabinet member. He has retained his post under three different prime ministers: Oleksiy Honcharuk, Denys Shmyhal, and Yulia Svyrydenko. Under his leadership, the Ukrainian government has launched a variety of digital projects, including the Diia portal and app, which allow users to access dozens of public services online.
Fedorov helped launch United24, a fundraising platform in support of Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction that is regularly promoted by Zelensky himself. He also played a key role in the Army of Drones initiative, which has accelerated the development of the Ukrainian drone market.
Fedorov has been credited with persuading Elon Musk to provide Starlink stations, which supply stable Internet in many parts of the country, including for soldiers at the front. RBC Ukraine has named Fedorov as one of the “main contenders” for the position of Zelensky’s chief of staff.
Kyrylo Budanov
Defense intelligence chief
Often referred to as Ukraine’s “top spy,” Kyrylo Budanov has headed the Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) since 2020. Budanov began his military career in HUR’s special forces. In 2014, he went to fight in the Donbas. From 2018 to 2020, he was involved in covert missions, the details of which are not publicly known. He also briefly served as the deputy director of a department within Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
By 2023, Budanov had risen to the rank of major general and a year later, Zelensky decorated him as a Hero of Ukraine for his “personal courage and heroism.”
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Budanov and his wife, Marianna Budanova, have lived inside the Main Intelligence Directorate’s headquarters. According to media reports, there were at least 10 assassination attempts on Budanov even before he became defense intelligence chief. There is also an ongoing investigation into the apparent poisoning of Marianna Budanova with heavy metals, which took place in 2023.
According to 24 Kanal, a Ukrainian TV channel and news site, Budanov actively participates in HUR operations and has been injured in the field multiple times. Russian state media have previously spread rumors about Budanov being injured or killed. In response to various drone attacks, Russia has indicted Budanov and other Ukrainian military personnel on terrorism charges in absentia.
Polling by the Kyiv-based Rating Group has shown that Budanov is the third most trusted figure in Ukraine, after President Zelensky and former Army Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
Pavlo Palisa
Deputy head of the President’s Office
A Ukrainian soldier and public servant, Colonel Pavlo Palisa has served as Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff since November 2024. Media reports also describe him as an advisor to the president on military affairs. Last spring, Palisa was part of the delegation Ukraine sent to Saudi Arabia for talks with the United States.
Before becoming a public official, Palisa served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces from 2002–2024. He took part in active combat, including as the commander of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade “Kholodnyi Yar” during the defense of Bakhmut in 2023.
Sergiy Kyslytsya
First deputy foreign minister
A career diplomat, Sergiy Kyslytsya has represented Kyiv on the world stage for many years. From 2020–2024, he was Ukraine’s permanent representative to the United Nations. In May and June 2025, he took part in the peace talks with Russia in Istanbul. He also joined Ukraine’s delegation for the most recent negotiations with the Trump administration.
“As Ukraine’s first deputy foreign affairs minister and a career diplomat who worked for a long time in America, Sergiy has the relevant experience and vision,” Zelensky said in a statement after meeting with Kyslytsya last week. Ukrainska Pravda’s sources said that this particular meeting should be viewed in the context of the selection process for Zelensky’s next chief of staff.
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After announcing his proposed candidates on Monday, Zelensky expressed reservations about the list, noting that elevating any of these senior officials could weaken another key institution. “I don’t want it to be like a game of Jenga, where you pull out one piece and everything falls apart,” he told journalists. “In any case, a choice needs to be made, and if this takes a long time, I’ll get used to the fact that I can get by without a chief of staff. Maybe I can do without one, but a choice needs to be made,” he added.
Cover Photo: Ukrinform / NurPhoto / Getty Images