Volodymyr Zelensky faces a difficult choice! Here are the main candidates for the post of Andriy Yermak

At the moment, there are at least four candidates for the post of the new head of the Presidential Administration after the resignation of Andriy Yermak. This is stated in the UP material, reports Censor.NET, quoted by Focus.

The day before, Volodymyr Zelensky held four important meetings: with Mikhail Fedorov, Denis Shmygal, Pavlo Palisa and Kirill Budanov, noted political strategist Oleg Posternak. According to him, they are probably the main candidates for the post of the new head of the presidential office.

''This position is primarily political, not bureaucratic and related to power. In the end, Andriy Yermak actually turned the head of the OP into the chief diplomat of Ukraine, somewhat reducing the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In my opinion, the president will appoint someone from the military. This would be appropriate in the conditions of martial law and should correspond to certain foreign policy opportunities of this position. So now the head of the presidential administration must have diplomatic ties, including informal ones, an international reputation, be a strong player and understand the political field'', emphasizes Posternak.

Taking into account these criteria, the political strategist notes that some candidates for the post immediately "disagree". After all, some of them will have to spend a lot of time getting acquainted with the domestic political subtleties of Ukrainian politics, the analyst believes.

"I think the best candidate would be the head of the State Security Service Kirill Budanov. He fully meets the criteria for this position in a state of war, which is very important“, the political strategist emphasized.

Oliver Carroll from The Economist reported earlier that Kirill Budanov has probably left for the United States as the head of the negotiating delegation. Let us recall that before that, the chief negotiator from Ukraine was Andriy Yermak. It was previously planned that he would go to Miami on November 29-30 as part of the peace talks.

Other possible candidates for the position

According to various assessments, there are several candidates who could replace Andriy Yermak. Among the main candidates are mentioned the names of former military Pavlo Palis, Deputy Chief of Staff Viktor Mikita, current Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko and her predecessor Denys Shmygal. There is currently a personnel struggle for this position, claims Artyom Bronzhukov, deputy director of the Analytical Center “Politics“.

According to him, Zelensky has great confidence in Shmygal and sees him as a potential successor. But Zelensky himself and his entourage are trying to figure out which people and in which positions will better fulfill their duties. For example, the head of the Office in Ukraine is an exclusively political figure, but without an electoral mandate. Therefore, on the other hand, one could consider appointing someone popular, for example, Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation, Bronzhukov thinks.

The priority is the war

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and his entourage have repeatedly emphasized that the war is the highest priority for the country. The state of the front, the readiness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the state as a whole to repel Russian aggression is the biggest challenge for Ukraine. Without it, other internal processes are of secondary importance, emphasizes the head of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation Serhiy Kuzan.

Of course, in wartime, it is most logical for the person who should lead the key auxiliary body of the president to be directly connected with the war. So that the military can understand it, and it, in turn, can hear the military and implement this in appropriate decisions. At the moment, such a responsible person in the office is Pavlo Palisa, Kuzan noted.

According to the expert, the government and economic component in Ukraine has a strong leader in the person of Yulia Sviridenko.

"Now we have begun global reforms to decentralize the army and strengthen the capabilities of brigades as the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Pavlo Palisa is currently responsible for all reforms in the army. But, of course, this is the work of the whole country. All state bodies, without exception, must work to ensure this policy,“ the analyst emphasized.