Not Just "Parliament Director": Arahamia Assigned a New Role on Zelensky’s Team

Head of the Servant of the People faction, Dmytro Arakhamia, according to sources, has significant influence in President Volodymyr Zelensky's team. He is attributed responsibility for domestic policy, work with Parliament, and part of the negotiation direction.

RBC-Ukraine writes about Arakhamia's role in the ruling team, citing interlocutors close to the president and the parliament. According to sources, the head of the Servant of the People faction remains one of the key officials close to Zelensky.

The interviewees claim that Arakhamia is effectively responsible for domestic policy. At the same time, during the last cabinet reshuffle, he, in their words, was not the main author of personnel decisions, though he actively participated in the process.

In particular, sources emphasize that the new prime minister, Serhiy Korketskyi, is not a man of Arakhamia. According to one of the interlocutors, Zelensky himself has long noticed Korketskyi since his time at Naftogaz or even earlier.

At the same time, after the cabinet update, Arakhamia allegedly gained the ability to influence certain personnel decisions. Among such appointments, the sources name Vitaliy Kim, the minister of veterans affairs, as well as a possible role in appointing Vitaliy Bezgyn as head of the Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure and Andriy Butenko as Minister of Education.

One member of parliament close to Arakhamia said that he regards as a mistake the situation when the head of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak, at one time concentrated too many personnel decisions on himself.

"When you try to appoint everyone everywhere, then you are responsible for all these people. So now the personnel function is effectively dispersed," said the source.

Separately, sources name Arakhamia as an unofficial "parliament director" — a role that has existed under various presidents of Ukraine. According to the interviewees, his main task is to ensure the necessary support for the government's decisions in the Verkhovna Rada.

"He has a mandate in parliament; that's basically his environment. But the expectations from him are higher," explained one of the deputies.

Also, according to the publication, Arakhamia may participate in shaping the future configuration of the Verkhovna Rada. Since a single-party majority in the next convocation seems unlikely, sources allow for the possibility of forming a coalition of several political projects.

Another area of the Servant of the People faction leader's activity is negotiations. Some of them are public in nature — notably, participation in the Ukrainian delegation at meetings with Donald Trump in Ankara and Washington.

At the same time, sources claim that a significant portion of his work takes place in an opaque diplomatic plane. One deputy close to Arakhamia said his negotiating capabilities could be wider than what Andriy Yermak once possessed.

"Yermak had working groups, peace summits, and so on. And with David — go there, talk to someone, appear here, make deals there," said the source.