Ukraine sends chief negotiator Rustem Umerov to US for peace talks as negotiations stall

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dispatched National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov to the U.S. to meet with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, a top Ukrainian official told POLITICO. Umerov left Ukraine for the U.S. on Wednesday, said the official, granted anonymity to discuss nonpublic arrangements. “He will meet representatives of the U.S. president to discuss diplomatic and security issues,” the official said. Bloomberg reported Umerov is expected to travel to Miami this week to meet Witkoff. The White House has issued no information on the potential meeting. The last major high-level meeting between Witkoff and Umerov took place on March 21-22 in Florida and included Kushner.

The trip comes as Moscow-Kyiv peace negotiations mediated by Washington have stalled. Major sticking points include control over part of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and the status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding Ukraine withdraw from the Donbas region, while Kyiv insists the war can be settled along the current contact line. Zelenskyy is adamant that Kyiv will never give up territories, especially ones Moscow has not managed to seize by military means.

Zelenskyy has publicly criticized the imbalance in Witkoff's visits — eight trips to Moscow and none to Kyiv since the start of U.S.-led negotiations last year, while meeting Kyiv officials only in the U.S. or elsewhere outside Ukraine. “We are in contact with them. But I think they need this visit [to Kyiv] more than we do,” Zelenskyy said last month. “Why? It’s not very respectful to go to Moscow and not come to Kyiv. It’s just disrespectful,” the Ukrainian leader said.

A person familiar with the matter said Witkoff and Kushner’s visit planned for Easter was supposed to be an ultimatum involving a one-day truce and POW exchange. “The plan was trivial. There was an Easter POWs exchange. They were supposed to come to the media and say, ‘Hey, we got you a one-day truce and this miracle. It can last longer if you sign a treaty,’” the person said. “They knew Zelenskyy would decline the public ultimatum, and that would be an opportunity for them to leave the whole thing.” The person added that Russia’s interest in negotiations has also declined, with POW release mechanisms that previously worked now largely ceasing to function.

Zelenskyy told Newsmax: “The problem is that the priority for the United States has now shifted to the Middle East.” As a result, “Russia will not feel the most important thing that America can give us — pressure on them,” Zelenskyy said. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected Zelensky’s claim that Washington linked security guarantees to giving up Donbas, saying: “We’ve never told them they have to take it or leave it.” Rubio said in Paris after talks with G7 foreign ministers that Washington’s role was to test whether any middle ground exists between the two sides. “We’ve told the Ukrainian side what the Russians are insisting on. We’re not advocating for it,” Rubio said. “It’s their choice to make. It’s not for us to make for them.”