Zelensky sends negotiating team with Umjerov to the USA

Peace talks

Zelensky sends negotiating team with Umjerov to the USA

After the resignation of his office chief Yermak, Ukrainian President Zelensky has appointed a new negotiator to end the war. The talks are ongoing in the USA.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has sent his negotiating team to the USA for talks about an end to the Russian war of aggression. The team with delegation leader Rustem Umjerov should arrive in the USA in the evening American time, he said in his evening video message distributed in Kiev. Zelensky explained that “it is quite realistic to finalize the steps in the next few days to determine how to end the war with dignity.” The necessary steps must be worked out quickly and substantially.

To this end, he gave the team the guidelines to negotiate in accordance with Ukrainian priorities, said Zelensky. After the resignation of his office chief Andriy Yermak, he appointed Umyerov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and former defense minister, as the new chief negotiator by decree.

“Ukraine continues to work with the United States in the most constructive way possible,” Zelensky said. It’s about a worthy peace. He had US President Donald Trump revise a 28-point plan during negotiations in Geneva with European and American representatives. In the USA there are still controversial points.

According to consistent media reports, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner will take part in the meeting with the Ukrainian delegation on behalf of the US side. This will take place this Sunday in Florida, ABC News and CBS News reported, each citing a high-ranking US government official.

Yermak initially conducted negotiations for Ukraine as Zelensky’s right-hand man; However, he resigned on Friday after corruption investigators searched his living quarters. Zelenskyj therefore reorganized the negotiating delegation by decree. Umjerow’s name has also been mentioned in connection with the corruption investigations, but he denied any involvement.

Umjerov announced that he wanted to work in the USA for the next steps for a just and lasting peace. He had already negotiated with Russian representatives in Istanbul several times this year, the results of which included exchanges of prisoners and killed soldiers. He is expected to hold talks with the Russian side again later.

The previous negotiator Yermak had rejected the cession of territory in Donbass demanded by Russia as a condition for peace. Russia demands the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that it does not currently control. Russia also states a number of other demands, including that Ukraine refrain from joining NATO.

US representatives are expected to attend negotiations in Moscow in the first half of the week. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had shown himself ready for peace talks. However, an agreement on a ceasefire is not yet in sight.