A delegation including Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov and Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslyca is scheduled to meet in Florida with Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Witkoff is to head the American delegation that will go to Russia next week for talks with Vladimir Putin.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself announced on Friday evening that in the next round of negotiations on the peace plan, Ukraine will be represented by the Chief of the General Staff Andriy Hnatov, Minister Umerov, as well as envoys of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and intelligence.
Earlier in the day, Axios reported that Andriy Yermak, who resigned as head of the Ukrainian president's office on Friday, was scheduled to arrive in Miami, Florida, on Saturday to talk with Witkoff and Kushner. Yermak is under investigation into a corruption scandal at the top of the Ukrainian government, and his apartment was searched on Friday.
The US presidential administration presented a 28-point peace plan to Ukraine last week, insisting that it be accepted no later than Thursday, November 27. According to media reports, this plan would oblige Kyiv, among others, to: not to join NATO, limiting the number of troops to 600,000. soldiers and giving Russia part of the territory.
Last Sunday, talks between the US and Ukrainian delegations took place in Geneva, devoted to an agreement based on a 28-point plan to be developed by representatives of the US and Russian leaders – Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and – on the Ukrainian side – Yermak met in Switzerland.
Kiev announced that the original draft of the peace plan had been changed and the document currently contains 19 points.
On Thursday, in an interview with the Atlantic magazine, Yermak said that Ukraine would not give territory to Russia. As he emphasized, Kiev is ready to talk about the demarcation line marking the territory controlled by both sides.
“No one in their right mind would sign a document relinquishing the territory today,” Yermak said. — As long as Zelensky is president, no one should count on us giving up the territory. He will not cede territory, he emphasized.
The Atlantic magazine claims that Ukraine's position before the next round of consultations will significantly limit the space for negotiators to achieve peace. Russia is not sending any signals that it may withdraw its demand for Ukrainian territory, including that not under the control of its army. Although negotiators have made progress in recent days, they still have different views on the key issue of territory. In this respect, the positions of Russia and Ukraine seem difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile.
Read also: Will the next peace plan for Ukraine end up in the trash? Kyiv sets clear conditions
The draft peace plan published last week by Axios assumes, among other things, that Crimea, the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts would be recognized as de facto Russian, including by the United States. Ukrainian forces would withdraw from the part of the Donetsk Oblast they currently control, and the withdrawal zone would be considered a neutral demilitarized buffer zone, internationally recognized as territory belonging to the Russian Federation. Russian forces would not enter this demilitarized zone.
