In an interview with Bloomberg, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, is a powerful manager and he respects him for his effective work.
"Russia has been launching a lot of different disinformation that it is not my decision, but some shadowy people's, that the president does not control the party or that the president has no influence on certain ministers [...] You have to understand that all this is working to simply attack me," Zelenskyy said.
The Head of State noted that he "does not want to influence".
"There is a law. I am the president under Ukrainian law. And Yermak is a powerful manager, one of the most powerful managers in my team. I respect him for his results. He does what I tell him to do. And he fulfils these tasks. And so it always is," Zelenskyy said.
The president said that if you want to weaken a person, you will hit the team.
"And when you get this person's team, you will start hitting this president. This is the policy of those who are dissatisfied with me. And not only Russians are dissatisfied with me. But the Russians primarily wanted to destroy me by one attempt or another, because for them, this is a plan of occupation," he added.
At the same time, according to Zelenskyy, it is not only the Russians who want a weak president of Ukraine.
"A weak president of Ukraine is an opportunity to tear off half of Ukraine's territories. This is an opportunity to stop Ukraine on its way to joining the European Union. This is an opportunity to shut me up. It's an opportunity to have another person at the head of Ukraine who will have no influence. And this is the task for many in the world. That's what's roughly happening," the president said.