Yermak's Isolation: Former Aides Bevz and Zarivna Have Distanced Themselves from Their Toxic "Boss"
“Many people have expressed their support for me… I have built very good relationships with the national security advisors of many of our partners,” Andriy Yermak stated in the courtroom when responding to journalists’ questions about whether any of his international partners or military officials had supported him.
Interestingly, none of the former head of the President’s Office’s closest associates made any public statements in his defense. Even those considered the “core” of his team—longtime advisors Oleksandr Bevz and Daria Zarivna—have distanced themselves from their former “boss.” Yet just a few months ago, they were publicly praising Yermak’s managerial talents and calling him a role model.
Read more about the key figures in Andriy Yermak’s inner circle and their attempts to distance themselves from the corruption scandal and their now-toxic boss in this UA.News review.
Oleksandr Bevz: Yermak’s former advisor on security and negotiations
Oleksandr Bevz studied at the Law Faculty of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alongside Daria Zarivna, who played a key role in shaping the information policy of the Office of the President from 2020 to 2025.
Before joining the Office of the President, Bevz served as director of the NBU’s Licensing Department and as deputy director for organizational and legal affairs at the “Evas Production Enterprise.” In July 2017, this company drew the attention of law enforcement authorities in connection with deals involving the procurement of footwear for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. An investigation was conducted into the embezzlement of 21.38 million hryvnias from “Evas” Production Enterprise LLC through shell companies.
“The main supplier of footwear to the Ministry of Defense, Talalegprom LLC, which previously purchased the lion’s share of products manufactured by Evas, began purchasing goods from one of Evas’s shell intermediary firms as of December 1, 2015, as a result of a scheme — Euroguma LLC.
At that time, the firm had just become the sole supplier of footwear to the Ministry of Defense (2015 – 451.91 million UAH, 2016 – 354.96 million UAH, since early 2017 – 385.10 million UAH),” reported the “Nashi Hroshi” project.
It was noted that by reselling Evas’s finished products, the companies kept most of the profits for themselves, which went toward the director’s salary (Bevz’s wife) and dividends.
In March 2023, Oleksandr Bevz took on a new position—he became an advisor to Andriy Yermak on international communications, the implementation of the Peace Formula, security guarantees for Ukraine, the environmental consequences of the war, and other issues.
He participated in meetings between the president and the Office of the President’s leadership with foreign delegations, promoted the “Peace Formula,” and was involved in negotiations on security guarantees for Ukraine within the so-called Yermak-Rasmussen group.
In August 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed Bevz as a member of the supervisory board of the state-owned “Ukreximbank” on behalf of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax, and Customs Policy.
Following Yermak’s dismissal as head of the Office of the President in late 2025, Oleksandr Bevz, along with other advisors such as Serhiy Leshchenko and Mykhailo Podolyak, was reassigned to other positions within the Office of the President. In particular, Ukrainian media also noted that after his official dismissal, Andriy Yermak continued to influence political life through a “shadow government.”
However, it appears that his extensive influence instantly “crumbled” after the NABU and SAPO served him with a notice of suspicion. During the trial at the High Anti-Corruption Court, even people from his inner circle—who owe their career advancement to him—failed to support Andriy Yermak.
The UA.News editorial team attempted to obtain a comment from Oleksandr Bevz, who served as Yermak’s advisor for a long time but did not come to support him during the court hearing. This question remained unanswered.
Daria Zarivna: Former Advisor on Information Policy
After graduating from the law faculty of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Daria Zarivna worked in fashion journalism; since 2014, she has been the editor-in-chief of the online version of the glossy magazine “L’Officiel Ukraine.” In 2018, she founded the online publication vctr.media and the PR agency Vector PR, and managed the Charitum charity auction platform. One of the investors in this platform was Zarivna’s ex-husband, Andriy Dovbenko.
According to media reports, attorney Andriy Dovbenko previously collaborated with Andriy Bohdan, legal advisor to the Privat business group. Bohdan became the first head of the Office of the President under Zelenskyy and held the position from 2019 to 2020. In August 2019, Bohdan was among the guests at Dovbenko’s wedding in Saint-Tropez.
Currently, both leading lawyers and business partners have fled abroad. Andriy Bohdan is now subject to sanctions, and Dovbenko has been placed on the wanted list—NABU suspects him of organizing a criminal group exposed for fraud involving seized property transferred to ARMA’s management.
Daria Zarivna’s other business partnerships also proved interesting. According to the Clarity Project, her business partner in the vctr.media project, Ismail Osbanov, was a signatory in several companies founded by singer Vera Kipperman (Vera Brezhneva). Accordingly, her ex-husband, Mykhailo Kipperman, was a business partner of Ihor Kolomoyskyi. In January, NABU issued a warrant for Kipperman’s arrest in a case involving embezzlement and money laundering.
This did not prevent Daria Zarivna from gaining influence in the civil service. In June 2019, she became an advisor to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on communications under the leadership of Oleksandr Danylyuk. She worked at the NSDC for only a few months.
And in February 2020, she became an advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, with whom she worked for five years. She was responsible for his public relations and media relations and attended meetings with foreign partners at the diplomatic and ministerial levels.
Between 2020 and 2025, Zarivna emphasized Andriy Yermak’s special role as a statesman and admired him as a person. Here are excerpts from her social media posts.
Photo: Instagram/Daria Zarivna
“Being a communications specialist for someone like him is incredibly difficult—I’ll be completely honest with you))) But starting at 5 a.m. on February 24, all boundaries finally dissolved; from that very day, my boss and I have been living a 24/7 work life. And since then, a deep, absolute respect has taken root in me.
Respect that can’t be earned by anything other than actions. It can’t be inspired by anything other than behavior. For me personally, it’s a very emotionally complex experience, but it’s so cool,” wrote Daria Zarivna, summing up three years of working with Andriy Yermak.
Photo: Instagram/Daria Zarivna
“We are on our own land, in our own home. We didn’t touch anyone. But now that they’ve touched us—we’ll fight back so hard that it will seem almost impossible, and the living will envy the dead. The best country in the world. The best people. The best team I have the honor of working with,” Zarivna captioned her photo with Yermak in August 2022.
In June 2025, Zarivna announced that she was resigning from the Office of the President by mutual agreement. After her resignation, the former senior advisor to Andriy Yermak flew to the United States. At the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, Zarivna launched a series of seminars as part of the Pritzker Fellows program, focusing on Russia’s war against Ukraine and its impact on global processes.
Photo: Instagram/Daria Zarivna
They shaped international and media policy
In high politics, there is a well-known formula: the king is only as good as his entourage. For Andriy Yermak, his circle of ambitious and creative advisors was also one of the decisive factors in his influence at Bankova Street. These people bolstered him: they denied any allegations of ties to Russia, shaped his personal brand, and covered up all that “management” and those schemes, which, in essence, looked like a parallel shadow government involving fortune-tellers and the embezzlement of resources during the war.
But most importantly—these people in the presidential team have been shaping information policy since 2020, before Russia’s full-scale invasion. It was then that the authorities adopted a communication strategy with citizens in the style of “do not sow panic,” failing to warn civilians about the threat to their lives and the need for evacuation.
In interviews with the Western press, officials at Bankova Street explained that, due to mass emigration on the eve of a full-scale war, the state would lose tax revenue and be unable to defend itself against Russian aggression.
It is possible that the consequences of such a decision for millions of our fellow citizens, especially in the temporarily occupied territories, will be the subject of detailed analysis in the years to come. For now, it can be stated that during the war, the team of top managers and numerous advisors to the Office of the President managed to realize their ambitions: some by enriching themselves in the energy and defense sectors, others by building their careers. And, judging by the current silence, Andriy Yermak’s inner circle has no intention of losing opportunities for further advancement to high-level positions in Ukraine and abroad.
