Five years of Zelensky: from a team of friends to a new management elite

In the midst of presidential elections in the spring of 2019, American partners sent a message to presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskyi: they would not like to see Andrii Bohdan, who is associated with oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, in a high position in Ukraine.

In Ukraine at that time, the legality of the nationalization of "PrivatBank" was pending. The National Bank claimed that the former co-owners, including Kolomoiskyi, caused the bank losses of at least 5.5 billion dollars. The oligarch himself called it "delusional" and contested such actions in court. The USA feared that through Bohdan the businessman Kolomoiskyi, who is under investigation in the USA, would influence the new Ukrainian government.

According to the media, at that time Volodymyr Zelenskyi had several candidates for the position of the head of the OP (at that time it was still the Presidential Administration). He carefully listened to the message of the Americans, and on the second day after the inauguration, he appointed Andrii Bohdan as the head of his office.

This story, in fact, is a vivid illustration of the approaches adopted by Volodymyr Zelenskyi in his personnel policy. People who know him well say: he will listen, but he will do it his way.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to power with a team he called professionals and of which not a trace remained after 5 years. Practically all these people found themselves at the center of political intrigues and under-the-carpet games for power, influence and authority. Most of them were dismissed with the official wording: ineffective. Or simply without explanation.

The BBC recalls with whom Zelensky entered politics, how his team changed and what it looks like now.

How Zelensky's team was created

Immediately after the final decision to go to the elections, the immediate circle of showman Volodymyr Zelensky at that time began actively looking for experts to join his team. This was done by Ivan Bakanov, Serhii Trofimov and businessman Ilya Pavlyuk.

Ivan Bakanov is the chief lawyer of the Kvartal 95 studio. According to Zelenskyi, they are old friends, they grew up together in the same entrance hall in Kryvyi Rih.

Serhiy Trofimov is the executive producer of the Kvartal 95 studio, responsible for film production in the company.

Ilya Pavlyuk is a businessman, an old friend of Zelenskyi. He knew many politicians, and therefore offered his services for the formation of ZeComanda, in particular in the regions.

During the search for people, Oleksandr Danylyuk, Ruslan Ryaboshapka, Dmytro Razumkov and Ruslan Stefanchuk were later invited to Zelensky's team, who became the expert backbone of ZeComanda. Each of them was responsible for his own direction: Danyliuk – economic and international, Ryaboshapka – law enforcement and anti-corruption, Razumkov – domestic politics, Stefanchuk – legal and legislative.

In pre-election interviews, Zelensky proudly talked about the members of his team, initially being afraid to name names. As he explained, for the safety of these people. Therefore, during the entire campaign, there was no clear understanding of what team Zelensky is leading to power, who will be his prime minister, ministers, and heads of security agencies. And this is what his opponents most often accused Zelensky of.

In an interview with Western media on March 21, 2019, then-presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that he wanted to change the political establishment and bring honest professionals to power. During the same conversation, he assured that he is going for one term and does not think about his rating at all. However, as the future has shown, the promise of a single term was hasty, and you start to worry about the rating when it drops rapidly.

The question of who is part of the team of the new political star did not leave the lips of politicians and experts. And already a few days before the second round of the elections, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared on the talk show "The Right to Power" on the "1+1" TV channel and effectively, in a concert style comfortable for him, resorting to bright facial expressions and gestures and interrupting the applause of the audience, presented your team

"These are experts, this is my team. These are professional people, specialists, young and bright, intelligent people who will go with me to the presidential administration", - this is how Zelensky spoke about the people with whom he came to power. On both sides of him stood the future first deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, head of the SBU Ivan Bakanov, speaker of the parliament Dmytro Razumkov, secretary of the NSDC Oleksandr Danylyuk, prosecutor general Ruslan Ryaboshapka, future deputies and ministers.

Zelensky did not skimp on compliments to these people, and they assured the audience in return that this president would be able to fight corruption.

Then, in the spring of 2019, this team looked united and confident in its actions, and Zelensky himself called it "dormant".

But as often happens in politics, conflicts over positions and spheres of influence begin to arise in Zelenskyi's team almost immediately after coming to power.

Andrii Bohdan brought most of the "non-quarter" deputies - Ruslan Ryaboshapka (who later became the Prosecutor General), Oleksiy Honcharuk (who later became the Prime Minister), Andriy Smirnov (he was able to hold on to this position for almost the entire next 5 years of Zelenskyi's presidency).

It was Bohdan who oversaw the dissolution of the parliament and took part in the formation of the lists of "Servants of the People" in extraordinary parliamentary elections, with his active participation the CEC was restarted and the first government was formed.

It was he who entered into a public struggle with some mayors, including the head of the capital, heavyweight Vitalii Klitschko, whom he regularly threatened with dismissal from the post of head of the KMDA.

And it was Bohdan who came up with the creative idea of ​​withdrawing the National Guard from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to reduce the influence of the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov, on the power bloc.

Many did not like the sharp, straightforward, authoritarian management style of the new head of the Office of the President Andrii Bohdan, so he quickly made enemies in the team. His relations with the people at Bankova, in the new parliament and the government gradually deteriorated.

The conflict between Bohdan and the Secretary of the National Security Council Oleksandr Danylyuk . The latter was one of Zelenskyi's key advisers during the election campaign - that is why everyone was waiting for Danylyuk to be appointed to some high position. However, to everyone's surprise, Zelensky appointed him as the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, a position in which he did not have much power and influence. Danyliuk distanced himself from the president and lost the opportunity to influence important processes in the country. Unofficially, members of Zelenskyi's team said that relations between Bohdan and Danyliuk were strained even during the election campaign.

Already in the fourth month of Zelenskyi's presidency, Oleksandr Danylyuk has written a resignation letter from the position of secretary of the National Security Council. Then, in an interview with the BBC, he said that he was leaving the team because of the threatening situation surrounding PrivatBank.

The fact is that Danylyuk worked as the Minister of Finance under President Petro Poroshenko and was directly involved in the nationalization of PrivatBank. In the past, Andriy Bohdan was the lawyer of Ihor Kolomoisky, the former owner of PrivatBank. The oligarch considers the nationalization illegal, which is why he challenged this decision in the courts.

With Zelensky coming to power, interesting processes really began to take place around PrivatBank, concerns about which were voiced both inside and outside of Ukraine. Kolomoisky tried to get this bank back through the courts.

"There were several factors, but the last straw was the events surrounding PrivatBank," Danylyuk explained to the BBC about his resignation. - As a person who put my reputation on the line during the election campaign, when I declared that I would do everything to limit Kolomoiskyi's influence in Ukraine, of course, I couldn't help but react to that." He is sure that through Bohdan Kolomoisky tried to influence the authorities, and that is why Zelensky had to fire him.

President Zelensky did release Andrii Bohdan , but much later – in February 2020. At that time, another person was increasing his influence in the President's Office - Andriy Yermak, who later became the new head of the OP. He will be the key manager in Zelenskyi's team in all future years.

The growth of Yermak's influence

ZeComanda representatives tell the BBC that Andriy Yermak was not visible during the election campaign in 2019. Some even claim that he did not support Zelenskyi's idea to run for president.

And after the elections, Yermak suddenly appears on Bankova among other presidential assistants. People from Zelenskyi's team, whom we talked to, say that at first he did not stand out, was quiet and did not influence anything. He participated in some meetings, but mostly sat there silently.

Vadym Prystaiko dealt with the international direction in the Office . First, Prystayko became Andrii Bohdan's deputy for international affairs, and then - the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new government headed by Oleksiy Honcharuk.

Zelenskyi had a "fix idea" - to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as possible to hold peace talks. This is what the team of the previous president, Petro Poroshenko, could not achieve for three years. Diplomats under the leadership of Prystayk worked on this. He traveled to the negotiations of the Normandy format advisers, shaped the president's international agenda and prepared the Normandy leaders' summit, which eventually took place in December 2019.

At some stage, Zelensky decides to include Andriy Yermak in this process - the latter was initially interested in the Russian direction, so he wanted to join. The film producer and lawyer in the past, without any diplomatic experience, except for a diploma from the Institute of International Relations, initially helps Prystayk in the line of negotiations with Russia, and over time takes over the entire international direction.

Relations between Prystayk and Yermak are becoming strained, with the appointment of the latter as the head of the OP, the situation escalates. In 2020, the entire government, together with the minister of foreign affairs, was dismissed, and then Zelensky appointed the ex-minister as ambassador to London. However, Vadym Prystaiko never completed his diplomatic term (4-5 years) and returned to Kyiv in the summer of 2023.

This happened after British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Volodymyr Zelensky exchanged sarcastic remarks at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July 2023. Wallace said that "allies are not Amazon", Ukraine should express more gratitude for help, and Zelensky replied: "We can wake up in the morning and thank the minister personally." Commenting on this situation, Prystaiko said: "I don't think that sarcasm between friends is good."

By and large, everyone believes that the ambassador was fired precisely because of this criticism of Zelensky, but our interlocutors in diplomatic circles explain: this dismissal was only a matter of time, since he had long since fallen out of favor with the head of the OP.

From Prystayk's comments to the media, it becomes clear that he himself expected this decision. "Probably there is a complex of things that lead to the decision of the head of state to recall the ambassador. And I won't be surprised if this particular case was the last in a whole chain of things that led to the dismissal," he diplomatically said in one of the interviews.

Minister Dmytro Kuleba informed about the president's plans to replace the ambassador to Britain Prystayka even earlier, so the dismissal decree was no longer a surprise for him.

Appointment of Yermak as the head of the Office of the President

In 2019, Andriy Yermak first established non-public contact with the Russians, and later took over the entire track of negotiations with the Kremlin - he negotiated the exchange of prisoners and a ceasefire in Donbas. Yermak's negotiations with the curator of Ukraine in Moscow, the deputy head of the administration of the president of the Russian Federation, Dmytro Kozak, initially yielded a certain result - a famous exchange took place in September 2019, when Oleg Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Roman Sushchenko, Ukrainian sailors and other prisoners of the Kremlin returned to Ukraine.

He is also in contact with the Americans. They are more happy to talk with Yermak than with Bohdan. Zelenskyi's aide tried to establish unofficial contacts with the team of then US President Donald Trump. However, later a scandal arose, the result of which was the beginning of the impeachment of the American president - all because of his alleged pressure on Zelenskyi. Yermak extinguished the situation, constantly emphasizing that it is impossible to put pressure on the president, and let the Americans figure it out for themselves - this is their internal history.

After the Normandy Four summit, in fact at the end of 2019 - the beginning of 2020, Yermak significantly expanded his influence on Zelenskyi. He was with the president practically 24/7, gradually displacing Bohdan, becoming his main adviser on all issues. And Zelensky responded to him with affection.

It is quite clear that the current head of the OP did not like this situation - conflicts were growing at Bankova. At the same time, according to some sources, Bohdan's relationship with the then influential businessman Igor Kolomoisky deteriorated.

Although Zelensky himself and members of his team publicly renounced ties with the businessman and assured that he had no influence on ZeComanda, in practice people from the oligarch's orbit appeared in positions of power and later on the list of "Servants of the People".

So very soon Zelensky did say goodbye to Bohdan. The president commented on this situation as follows: "We either lose time or lose people. That is, we will one hundred percent lose someone. Because you cannot live in constant conflict. That's all". The corresponding personnel decrees did not take long - on February 11, 2020, the president dismissed Andriy Bohdan and appointed Andriy Yermak as the head of his office. At the time, such a decision by Zelenskyi looked sensational, but logical.

After his release, Andrii Bohdan began openly criticizing Zelenskyi and claimed political persecution because of his position. "The government is eating Zelensky. He has changed physically," said Zelenskyi's former associate while sipping wine during a 4-hour interview with Dmytro Gordon in September 2020. At the same time, he openly stated that he no longer considered Zelenskyi his friend.

Of course, the lion's share of criticism went to Andriy Yermak. "He is convenient, never brings bad news and says only good things. Comfortable, like Italian shoes", - this is how Bohdan assessed his successor.

Despite these objections, Yermak only strengthens his position and influence on Bankova. He openly admits that he advises the president a lot and he listens to him. In one of his interviews, Yermak said: "I appreciate that the president listens to my opinion. I am very sober about the opportunity to say something, I believe that it is necessary not only to express my opinion, but also to support it with knowledge, experience and real results. This approach extends to the entire team of the President's Office."

In the summer of 2020, Zelensky appointed an ambiguous figure as his deputy - Oleg Tatarov, who is associated with criminal prosecutions of participants in the "Revolution of Dignity" in 2014. This also caused criticism of the Office of the President. But time will show that, despite this, Tatarov's position has not wavered, which means that he is completely satisfied with both the president and the head of his office.

Public activists and experts do not tire of pointing out Tatarov's interference in the activities of law enforcement and investigative structures and calling on the president to fire him. Yermak, for his part, constantly denies that OP controls any state structures, saying that the Office of the President only coordinates their activities.

The president trusts him so much that he even forgives failures. Our interlocutors in the authorities claim: Yermak was inclined to think that there would be no full-scale invasion of Russia. He, like other representatives of the Ukrainian authorities, also spoke publicly about this threat. At that time, Western politicians and mass media were already warning that Russia was preparing to attack Ukraine.

The head of the OP held negotiations with the Russians. They assured that it was all "hysteria of the West". Exactly two weeks before the invasion, on February 10, 2022, he spoke with Kozak and reported to Zelensky on progress. The parties allegedly then agreed to unblock the work of the tripartite contact group on Donbas and continue the dialogue. And Zelensky believed him.

And after the full-scale invasion, Yermak admits: "You know, we didn't believe until the last that this would happen, I'll be honest. You know there was a lot of information from our partners and so on. But, nevertheless, we did not believe."

There are various accusations against the new head of the OP - from placing "his people" in influential positions, including in state companies, to putting pressure on politicians and officials through security forces. Journalists found out that people close to Yermak were appointed to high positions in the government, the National Bank, various state structures and companies, law enforcement and security forces.

All subsequent personnel decisions of Zelenskyi are connected with him, including the dismissal of the closest friends and associates, with whom the president, it would seem, was inseparable all his previous, pre-political life. Among them are Serhii Trofimov, Ivan Bakanov and Serhii Shefir.

"He has no family, no children, he only has Zelensky. And this actually makes him different from other team members. He carries out completely different assignments, conveys information, organizes meetings with Zelenskyi. He was always at hand - on business trips, at international meetings, in the bunker... and it worked," says one of the former members of the president's team. They even fell ill with COVID-19 at the same time in November 2020 and went into self-isolation together.

In his previous interviews, Yermak called the criticism that he has absolute power in personnel matters in the country an exaggeration. "We - the team of the President's Office - deal only with those personnel issues that belong to the competence of the president, and not as it is sometimes written," he explained.

According to Yermak, the president always acts decisively with regard to personnel: "I am always in favor of constructive criticism, I accept it normally, but I am against manipulation and lies. And the president always reacts decisively to errors in personnel policy, if they occur. But it is very important that the conclusion about the error was made on the basis of a deep professional analysis. And not because of someone's political or personal interests. If this is really a mistake, then you can be sure that the president will not hesitate to correct it."

Such determination of the president led to the fact that Zelensky's pre-election "sleeper team", which Yermak was not a part of, evaporated during the 5 years of the presidency. Former and current members of the president's team claim that this did not happen at all without the participation of the current head of the OP.

Honcharuk, Razumkov, Bakanov and the whole "doze"

Following the change in the leadership of his office, Zelenskyi demanded a replacement of the government - and this despite the fact that his one-year immunity has not yet expired. Oleksiy Honcharuk was considered a creature of Andriy Bohdan, after his release, the prime minister's position was shaken.

The official reason for the replacement of the government was that Honcharuk's Cabinet was ineffective. Volodymyr Zelenskyi, evaluating his work, said: "This government knows what to do, but knowing is not enough, it is necessary to do. And we should not be afraid of the truth, we should admit mistakes. Because the day we plunge into the warm bath of illusions, the whole country will drown."

The unofficial reason was that the prime minister fell out of favor with the president after the recording of a meeting at the National Bank was leaked, at which he called Zelensky a "profane" in the economy. By the way, it is still unknown who listened to Honcharuk then and for what purpose he posted the clip on the Internet. Although the answer to the second question is rather clear - presumably, with these records, Honcharuk wanted to discredit in the eyes of the president.

The Security Service of Ukraine started an investigation into the case of wiretapping the prime minister, but according to our data, there are no results yet.

On March 4, 2020, the Council dismissed Oleksiy Honcharuk, which entailed the resignation of the entire government. Even after his dismissal, the ex-prime minister told reporters that the president had warned him about plans to replace the government. And this is actually rather an exception, because in the future Zelenskyi mostly did not warn those he dismissed. Often people found out about it in fact from third parties, or from the mass media in general.

The very next day after the replacement of the government, the deputies expressed their lack of confidence in Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka - the same one who was an expert locomotive in ZeComand during the elections and of whom Zelensky was so proud. He, like Honcharuk, was called ineffective and was also dismissed.

According to our data, Zelensky did not meet with him either before or after his release. But he publicly commented on this personnel decision at one regional meeting with businessmen. And it looked emotional. "They will ask me: yay-yay-yay, you can't touch the Prosecutor General. You know, he and I have come a long way in the election campaign. But let the deputies vote there as they wish. My personal opinion: there is no result - you should not take a place." And then he specified: "Ruslan is a good specialist, but he did not show results." There are no comrade-not-comrade priorities."

Ruslan Ryaboshapka was quick to respond.

"I would divide Zelensky's presidency into two parts. The first is the so-called turbo regime, including in the field of corruption. Then everything changed," Ryaboshapka said in an interview with the BBC. He associates this radical change with the replacement of Bohdan with Yermak. The latter, in his opinion, contributed to the oligarchs becoming significantly closer to the president's team. And they get rid of those who interfere with them.

"We came close to the oligarchs," Ryaboshapka told the BBC, "together with NABU, we were very close to reporting suspicion to the former owner of the country's largest bank." He meant Ihor Kolomoiskyi. "That's why I believe that we have become dangerous for them."

Even then, he said that the only chance to change the situation for the better for Zelensky is a radical change in attitude towards the environment. And the first step should be the dismissal of Andriy Yermak, and then the formation of a team of professionals. "Zelensky is not a professional in public administration, so everything depends on who surrounds him," Ryaboshapka said.

It seemed that one thing remained stable in these political intrigues - Zelensky did not touch his "neighborhood" friends whom he appointed to high positions. But even here, over time, everything changed - the first to come under attack in November 2020 was Serhiy Trofimov , who was responsible for regional policy in the President's Office. The president dismissed him from the position of first deputy head of the OP, officially for the same inefficiency.

Serhiy Trofimov actually grew up inside the Kvartal 95 studio. He said that he came there in his youth as an ordinary manager and grew up to become an executive producer. He was among those who actively helped Zelensky to form a team during the elections. Also, according to the media, he was a close friend of the Zelenskyi family.

Relations between Trofimov and Yermak did not develop almost immediately after the appointment of the latter as the head of the OP. According to some sources - due to the fact that Trofimov had ambitions to lead the OP after Bohdan, and therefore did not perceive Yermak as his boss, according to others - Yermak did not see Trofimov as his first deputy and did everything to get rid of him. It is likely that both factors overlapped in this story.

Serhii Trofimov publicly denied any conflict with Yermak. "I assure you, you should not focus on these rumors. Everyone is looking for conflict, conspiracy, intrigue, but there are none," he assured journalists in one of his interviews in the spring of 2020.

Yermak also persistently denied this conflict. In July 2020, the head of the OP published a joint photo with Trofimov on social networks - on it they are smiling, and next to it is the caption: "Photo, loaded with cooperation. Nature has renewed itself so much that anonymous Telegram channels started writing about us and Serhiy. We read several posts, sitting in the office, we could barely contain our smile. Do not read Soviet newspapers! We are the only team of President Zelensky. Don't try to divide us, it's useless!".

But as experience shows, often the picture on social networks differs from reality. Already in autumn, Trofimov began to be criticized on Bankova. "It seems to me that the first deputy, who is responsible for regional policy, should be tougher, clearly understand the functionality of the governors. Because decentralization made it so that regional communities came to the fore, and governors were in the background," OP advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told reporters, hinting that the president will soon make a corresponding personnel decision.

Trofimov is mentioned in the context of another topic - in a high position in the OP, he defended the interests of the UOC-MP. Yermak's deputy stated the pressure on this church from the state, as well as excessive politicization of the religious issue by the previous government. Later, photos of Serhii Trofimov and Metropolitan Onufriy of the joint service appeared on the Internet. And this "card" was actively used by his detractors.

Trofimov was accused of using his position in order to block the transition of communities of the UOC MP to the new OCU. He denied these accusations.

On November 4, 2020, Zelensky signed a decree dismissing his friend from the position of first deputy of the OP, while keeping him as a freelance adviser. From that moment on, Trofimov's weight in power was reduced to nothing.

Already next year, in 2021, another important figure is leaving Zelensky's team - Dmytro Razumkov . Ivan Bakanov brought him back in 2019.

Razumkov was at the same time an expert on domestic politics, a political technologist and a speaker of the election headquarters. In the extraordinary parliamentary elections, he headed the list of the "Servant of the People" party, and after the stunning result of this political force (obtained a monomajority in the parliament) in August 2019, he became the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada.

Razumkov distinguished himself from many other members of the team in that he already had political experience and his own political ambitions. Before Zelensky, he cooperated with the "regionals" and the party of Serhii Tihipko, so he knew the political processes in the country very well. Immediately at the start, he began to have problems with Bankova, who demanded to adopt dozens of draft laws in "turbo mode".

The young and ambitious politician, having come to power, showed his character: he did not agree to be the hands of a single brain - the Office of the President. Razumkov refused to fulfill all of Bankova's tasks and criticized individual initiatives of the OP, and also openly stated that Zelensky should be president for only 5 years, as, in fact, he promised his voters. Zelenskyy then made it clear that he was thinking about a second term.

The conflict grew. When Zelensky fired Bohdan, there was hope that everything would finally improve in relations with the speaker of the parliament. But this could not happen a priori, because Razumkov had already decided to go his own way.

After Yermak was headed by OP, the conflict reached a new level - the speaker of the parliament increasingly irritated the Office of the President by always having his own opinion on any issue.

After all, against the backdrop of a drop in the trust rating of Zelenskyi and his team, Razumkov expectedly separated from the president's team. On October 6, 2021, deputies dismissed him from the position of speaker, and the politician created his inter-factional association "Smart Politics".

"I could easily remain the head of the Verkhovna Rada if I was more constructive." A person who is ready to compromise his principles. A person who does not take a clear position on certain issues," explained Razumkov in an interview with the BBC.

He also said something about Zelenskyi: "It seems to me that Bankova is some kind of cursed place. Who doesn't get here, it changes people a lot." His words about Zelensky essentially coincided with Andrii Bohdan's assessment.

Zelenskyi himself commented on Razumkov in a more restrained manner: “These people have different political views. And that's normal. We live in a democratic state. But if they (these views) are different from... 73% who voted for this particular program, then that's normal - it means you're living your personal life."

Thus, after two years in power, the political paths of Razumkov and Zelensky diverged.

Against the background of criticism, in the summer of 2022, the head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov , another "neighbor" and a longtime acquaintance of the president, was dismissed. And here special attention should be paid to how it happened.

Zelenskiy's appointment of Bakanov to the post of head of the SBU was unexpected, and many took such a personnel decision ambiguously. He said, how can you appoint a person who has never served there as the head of the special service. But the president's entourage explained that this was the plan - to appoint someone who is not involved in corruption schemes, flows and kickbacks, to eradicate all this from the inside.

Thus, Ivan Bakanov, a lawyer at the "Kvartal 95" studio, became the head of the Ukrainian special service in August 2019. Initially, Zelensky spoke positively about the new head of the Security Service of Ukraine: "Perhaps, from the point of view of experience and professionalism, Bakanov lacks something, but it seems to me that this year he has shown that there has never been such an honest head of the Security Service of Ukraine." But later on, his rhetoric becomes restrained, the relationship between Zelensky and Bakanov grows cold, and the media "spoils" about Zelensky's plans to release him.

Various accusations were leveled against Bakanov - from the slow reform of the Security Service of Ukraine to a failed personnel policy. Some said that Bakanov lacked the experience and competence to lead such a complex structure as the SBU. Others associated such a flurry of criticism with the fact that he is not a person from the system, and therefore the special services simply did not accept him and wanted to get rid of him.

Over time, both representatives of the SBU, whom he did not like, and other structures began to complain about Bakanov to the president. According to our data, Zelensky repeatedly called the head of the special service "on the carpet" after such complaints, and in July 2021 he even convened a large meeting at which he reviewed the internal situation in the SBU, criticized its activities, and based on the results, made a number of personnel decisions.

The struggle for power and influence over the president was evident here as well. "Ivan remained one of the few in the team who directly called Zelenskyi, came to Zelenskyi and spoke with him without intermediaries. Of course, he did not suit some people," says one of our interlocutors in power circles, alluding to the leadership of the OP. Against this background, according to this version, Bakanov's relationship with the President's Office deteriorated.

At the same time, there were signs of a discrediting campaign in the information space. For example, in the spring of 2022, information spread through the network that Bakanov fled Ukraine at the beginning of the invasion. Some mass media even reported this with reference to a source in the President's Office. In its article dated June 2, 2022, the authoritative publication "Ukrainian Pravda" will write with reference to a source close to the president: "Vana was not in Kyiv in the first days of the war. He could not be found. And he is the head of the Security Service, do you understand?!". The news about this spread on many other resources and Telegram channels. Later, individual people's deputies began to assert this.

The information that Bakanov fled at the beginning of the invasion turned out to be a fake. Our interlocutors at the SBU claim that he was at his workplace in Kyiv. Bakanov himself confirmed this to us.

"On February 24, 2022, I came home from work at night. A few hours later, I received a call from Roman Dudin (at that time the head of the Ukrainian Security Service in the Kharkiv region), he reported on the beginning of hostilities and the hostile crossing of the state border of Ukraine. I immediately reported to the President of Ukraine. I came to the OP building for a meeting of the National Security Council regarding the introduction of martial law. In order not to waste time, since the other members of the National Security Council had just arrived, I asked the president to leave the OP building, counting my "yes" vote in the voting, and immediately went to Volodymyrska, 33, in order to organize and hold a coordination video conference call with the heads of the central staff and regional offices of the Security Service of Ukraine", - this is how he answered the BBC's question.

Bakanov assures that since that time he was constantly in the central building of the SBU, from there he managed and coordinated the activities of the special service until his release. "He never left Kyiv or abroad," he claims.

It is noteworthy that once in one of the interviews, journalists directly asked Andriy Yermak whether Bakanov was really not in Kyiv on February 24, and he answered quite evasively: "I do not have such information. I can say about myself. I arrived here at 5:20 in the morning, the second after the president, and I remain here to this day. I was here from the first minute and I will stay in place until we win," Yermak boasted. A somewhat strange answer considering the fact that it is unlikely that the head of the OP did not see and did not know where the head of the SBU was and what he was doing that day.

Later, the mass media will spread another news about criminal cases against Bakanov, which will again refer to sources in the same Office of the President. We were officially informed by the SBI that there are no such cases. "There is no point in commenting on rumors or fakes, only fueling them," said Bakanov. And he adds: "Analyze for yourself the original source of these discards, to which pool fake accounts belong, and you will understand their real purpose, customers, beneficiaries and their fellow travelers."

Very soon, Zelensky will release Bakanov. In July 2022, the SBU and the SBU detained Oleg Kulinich, the former head of the State Security Service in Crimea, on suspicion of treason. This became the official reason for the personnel decision, because Bakanov personally invited Kulinich to a high position in the special service.

It is noteworthy that the head of the Security Service of Ukraine was dismissed in a non-standard way - the president gave his old friend a "public whipping", removing him first under the article of the disciplinary statute for dereliction of duty, and then - by conducting the dismissal through the parliament. Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova was fired according to the same scheme. However, unlike Bakanov, she was sent as an ambassador to Switzerland.

In his traditional address, Zelensky dryly explained that he made such decisions due to collaborationism in the SBU and the prosecutor's office. He did not publicly comment on Bakanov's dismissal.

After that, the SBU published Bakanov's appeal about his activities at the head of the special service. In it, he talked about the main achievements, including the detention of Viktor Medvedchuk and the opposition to pro-Russian forces in Ukraine, and about the problems: "Yes, not everything that was planned was completed. There were also miscalculations, the reasons for which should be analyzed separately. At the same time, it is worth remembering that it is difficult in a few years to change a system that has been under the influence of a strong and insidious enemy with unlimited resources for decades." Bakanov did not mention Zelensky in this text.

According to our data, the president did not warn him about such a personnel decision, since that time Bakanov and Zelenskyi have not communicated.

Shefir, Kolomoisky and the great "reboot"

At the beginning of 2024, Volodymyr Zelenskyi will start announcing a "reset" of the government against the background of the conflict with head of state Valery Zaluzhny. In February and March, he adopted a package of personnel decisions. In particular, he appointed Oleksandr Syrskyi as the new chief of staff, replaced the NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov with Oleksandr Litvinenko, appointed some new commanders of military branches, and also reshuffled the Office of the President.

His old friend and business partner Serhiy Shefir . Like Volodymyr Zelensky, he was born in Kryvyi Rih, where in the 1990s, together with his older brother Boris, he wrote jokes for various KVN teams. Including the "95th quarter" of the future president of Ukraine.

It was Serhiy and Boris Shefiry who invited Zelensky to the KVN Zaporizhzhia – Kryvyi Rih – Transit team, which later won the top Russian KVN league. Zelenskyi and Shefiry were so close that they even lived together in the same apartment in Moscow. They also had a joint business, and after winning the presidential elections in 2019, it was Serhii Shefir who got the largest share in these companies.

Immediately after the election, Zelensky appointed him as his first assistant. In one of his interviews in the summer of 2019, Serhii Shefir expressed confidence that the authorities would not be able to quarrel with Zelenskyi. "We came to the conclusion that my main task is to be by his side and make sure that he, having become a politician, remains a human being. After all, very often, when you occupy a high position, you start to be surrounded by people who give you only praise speeches and lead you in the wrong direction," he said.

But everyone understands that it is unlikely that the first assistant to the president performs such rather abstract tasks. The real activity of Shefir remained outside the public space.

Little is known about what exactly he did in power. According to the media, Shefir was responsible for the communication of the President's Office with big business. Journalists have noticed him more than once in the company of oligarchs, businessmen and company heads. He was seen in the office of Igor Kolomoiskyi and in the estate of Rinat Akhmetov. When asked by journalists about the purpose of the visit, he reluctantly answered: "I am not doing anything illegal, period."

No one knows what exactly Shefir talked about with oligarchs and businessmen, what issues and problems he solved with them, what agreements he reached.

Journalists also associated him with non-public influence on certain state assets, in particular, Odesa Port Plant and Energoatom. Whether this activity is related to the attempt on Shefir in September 2021 is unknown. Then a car with a friend of the president was shot between the villages of Kruglik and Khodosivka in Obukhiv district of Kyiv region. According to law enforcement officers, during the attack, the attackers fired about 18 shots, more than ten of which hit Shefir's car. The driver was injured, Shefir himself was not injured.

The official investigation named three main versions of the events - due to Shefir's state activities, pressure on the top leadership of the state and destabilization of the situation in the country. The President's Office called the attack "an attempt to demonstratively kill a key member of the team" and linked it to de-oligarchization. This is a rather debatable version given the fact that it was Shefir who, out of all the representatives of Zelenskyi's team, was most often spotted in the oligarchs' offices.

These events angered Zelenskyi personally. "Who is behind this - frankly, I don't know yet. What are these forces? Can be internal or external. But I don't consider them to be strengths, because greeting me with shots from the forest at my friend's car is a weakness", - this is how the president commented on the attempt on his friend. And he promised that the answer would be strong, and his team would not be shaken by it.

These words of Zelenskyi were never destined to come true, because the results of the investigation of this crime are still not available, just like Shefir is no longer in the Office of the President. In April of this year, the General Prosecutor's Office, in response to a request from Sospilny, reported that the investigation was ongoing, and the suspicions had not been announced to anyone.

In March 2024, Zelensky fired Shefir from the post of first assistant to the president. The mass media wrote more than once that a "black cat" ran between the president and his friend even before the assassination attempt, but no one named the exact cause of the conflict.

Serhiy Shefir said after his dismissal: "Regardless of everything you hear and read, I am in the president's team. No options. Besides the fact that he is the president, he is my friend, and that is much more important than the position." But whether Zelensky still considers Shefir his friend is an open question. The president has not yet commented on his dismissal.

At the same time as Shefir, another "veteran" of the President's Office was dismissed - Yermak's deputy Andrii Smirnov .

Smirnov was brought to Bankova back in 2019 by Andrii Bohdan, which is why his relationship with the new head of the OP did not develop immediately. Although neither he nor Yermak spoke about it publicly. Rumors about Smirnov's dismissal circulated even before the start of the invasion, but surprisingly, he was able to hold on to his post for almost all five years.

Andriy Smirnov was responsible for judicial reform, and after the full-scale invasion, he also took care of such an important area as the international tribunal against Russia.

After leaving the President's Office, he gratefully wrote on Facebook: "It was a great honor for me to work with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi. 4.5 years of difficult trials, which no political team of the country knew on its way, many implemented reforms that were accompanied by a thirst for qualitative changes in the country for the better." He did not mention Andriy Yermak in the post.

the affairs of Ihor Kolomoiskyi are no longer so rosy. First, in 2021, the US State Department imposed sanctions against him for corruption, and in September 2023, he was arrested in Ukraine in cases of fraud and money laundering. A year later, the businessman will also be charged with organizing a contract murder. He is still in pretrial detention.

Zelensky's team today

On the fifth anniversary of Zelenskyi's presidency, his political team looks like this.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal , who was appointed immediately after the dismissal of Honcharuk in 2020. From time to time there were personnel reshuffles in the government itself, the Rada changed individual ministers, but the prime minister himself, despite criticism and rumors, was not touched by anyone.

Historically, in Ukrainian politics, infighting between the president and the prime minister often arose - a classic struggle for power and authority. But Shmyhal is distinguished by the fact that he does not conflict with Bankova at all. He has no political ambitions, does not build his personal image and is completely devoted to Zelenskyi. In their columns, the mass media called him an "obedient" prime minister, and the government a "branch" of the President's Office.

In peacetime, this scheme seemed very convenient for the OP, but with the beginning of a full-scale invasion, the government began to be required to make quick decisions to overcome the crises that arose one after another in various areas. Off the record, Bankova often criticized the Cabinet of Ministers and its head for procrastination and did not rule out his resignation. The mass media even wrote about possible successors, among whom, by the way, Andriy Yermak was named.

But despite this criticism, Denys Shmyhal continues to manage and announce government reform. The Prime Minister announced that the authorities are working on launching a Government Center by 2025, which will completely transform the Cabinet in its current form. The authorities again talked about reducing the number of ministries and, accordingly, the number of civil servants.

So far, it is not completely clear what the Cabinet of Ministers will look like after this reform, but one cardinal change is already openly discussed in political circles – it can turn the prime minister from the nominal head of the government into a real subject of decision-making. Are you ready for this at Bankova? And if so, are these changes embodied in a particular person?

If we do not take into account the situation with Dmytro Razumkov, then the pro-presidential faction in the parliament was considered the only more or less stable cell of ZeComanda. And although over these five years we have witnessed various conflicts both within the "Servant of the People" and their disputes with the President's Office, deputies cannot be simply taken and dismissed by decree - they are protected by the electoral law.

As five years ago, the main members of the faction remain Davyd Arakhamiya , Ruslan Stefanchuk and Oleksandr Kornienko - they often pushed the decisions necessary for the Bank through the Council at the cost of enormous efforts. The party, which was created chaotically quickly from everyone everywhere, brought together people with completely different views and fortunes. That is why it is not easy for deputies to work together in the parliament. Especially given the fact that the Office of the President launched a "turbo mode" and deputies often did not even understand what they were voting for. And especially given the fact that different groups of influence began to form inside, each of which promoted its own interests.

Because of this, even though the monomajority formally existed, in reality there were often not enough votes for the adoption of bills. But despite all the differences, the center of decision-making both before and after a full-scale invasion is still the Office of the President. Because of this, the mass media often jokingly called the monomajority "servants of Bankova".

After February 24, 2022, the work of the parliament has completely changed, the president has almost no contact with the deputies, but conveys all wishes through the leadership of the faction. The Council was mobilized, often "servants" made decisions thanks to the votes of other political forces, including from the opposition.

During this time, Davyd Arakhamia , the head of the "Servant of the People" faction in the parliament, significantly increased his weight. He remained in Kyiv all the time, spent a lot of time in the bunker with the president, and in the most difficult days at the beginning of the invasion stood next to Zelenskyi and Yermak during the recording of traditional addresses to the people.

Arahamia's role also increased because he was included in the negotiating team with Russia in the spring of 2022. He, together with then Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, Deputy Rustem Umyerov, and OP adviser Mykhailo Podoliak, went to the border with Belarus, where the parties were holding peace talks.

A source close to Arahamiya claims that he communicates directly with the president and often meets with him "tete-a-tete". "Without Yermak?", we ask our interlocutor. "Without Yermak". Davyd Arakhamia continues to effectively, although not without difficulties, pass through the parliament the necessary decisions for the Office, including personnel, so the president is satisfied with him. The mass media have written more than once that because of this there is tension in the relationship between Arahamia and Yermak, but in the public realm, so far, as they say, "everything is fine."

Meanwhile, Andriy Yermak is celebrating the fifth anniversary of Zelenskyi's inauguration with a renewed staff of the President's Office, which can be safely called finally his team.

Andrii Smirnov was replaced by the former Deputy Minister of Justice Iryna Mudra. At the Ministry of Justice, she was responsible for cooperation with international courts and confiscation of Russian assets.

Yermak's deputies remain the aforementioned odious Oleg Tatarov, who continues to supervise the force and law enforcement department, Rostyslav Shurma - the economic bloc, Ihor Zhovkva and Mykola Tochytskyi - international relations, Oleksiy Kuleba - responsible for the regions, Roman Mashovets - security and defense. Oleksii Dniprov, who was in charge of education and culture, was recently appointed to replace Oleksii Kovalska, who previously worked in the office of the head of the OP.

There are no more people left at Bankova, who were brought by the ex-chairman of the OP and former friend of the president Andriy Bohdan, just as Zelensky himself has none of his old friends in high positions. Only the secretary Mariya Levchenko remained nearby - almost the last echo of the "neighborhood" team and an old acquaintance of the president, who is responsible for his schedule and whom he still calls Masha in a friendly way.

During the preparation of the material, the BBC sent a request to Andriy Yermak, but at the time of publication, he did not respond to our questions.