Secret meetings between Ukraine's chief negotiator and FBI chiefs raise concern among Western officials

FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, met with Kiev's chief negotiator as part of the U.S. pressure campaign to end the war in Ukraine, WP reports.

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Secret meetings between Ukraine's top peace negotiator and FBI chiefs are adding a new layer of uncertainty to high-stakes talks to end the war, according to diplomats and officials familiar with the situation.

In recent weeks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, has flown three times to Miami to meet with Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump's top envoy, and hold talks on a peace proposal that could end the war.

During his visit to the United States, Umerov held closed-door meetings with FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, according to four people who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the conversations.

The meetings raised concern among Western officials to the extent that they were not informed of their intent and purpose. Some of them speculated that Umerov and other Ukrainian officials wanted to talk to Patel and Bongino in hopes of obtaining amnesty for possible corruption charges the Ukrainians might face. Others fear the newly created channel could be used to pressure Zelenskiy's government to accept a peace deal proposed by the Trump administration that includes substantial concessions from Kiev.

Ukraine's ambassador to Washington, Olha Stefanišyna, confirmed the meeting and told The Washington Post that it “covered only national security issues” that could not be disclosed publicly.

An FBI official said there were discussions about the two countries' common interests in law enforcement and national security. The topic of corruption in Ukraine was brought up in one of the meetings, but was not the main topic of discussion, the official said.

Both FBI directors criticized Ukraine

FBI directors have criticized Ukraine in various public comments. Patel in March questioned the extent of US aid to Ukraine and urged Congress to investigate whether US funds sent there were misused. Bongino accused Zelenskiy of covering up the alleged corrupt activities of the president's son Joe Biden, whose seat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company has been the subject of intense scrutiny. Trump “is very suspicious of Zelenski because of what he and some of the people in his administration have done to cover up Joe Biden's insanity,” Bongino said in February.

A White House official said “US officials regularly communicate with world leaders about national security issues of common concern.” The official added that Trump's national security team “has been talking to both the Russians and the Ukrainians to facilitate an agreement to end the war” and that whoever is raising concerns about these meetings “is not privy to these diplomatic conversations and has no idea what they are talking about.”

A representative from Zelenskiy's office declined to comment on any specific meeting, but insisted that “it's nonsense to link everything to 'corruption'.”

The New York Post mentioned the meeting between Umerov and Patel in an article published on November 28. The meeting between Bongino and Umerov has not been reported before.

The talks are taking place at a critical time for Ukraine. The Trump administration is pressuring Ukraine to accept a proposal to end the war, with huge implications for the country's borders and territorial integrity.

At the same time, Kiev is grappling with its biggest corruption scandal since Zelensky took office in 2019. Ukrainian investigators alleged last month that $100 million was siphoned from the country's energy sector through corruption and kickbacks.

Eight people, including Zelenski's former business partner, are accused of embezzlement, money laundering and illicit transactions. Zelenskiy's top adviser Andrii Ermak, Ukraine's second most powerful man, resigned in late November after his home was raided. Another former close ally of Zelenskiy, Oleksiy Chernishov, who served as deputy prime minister, is accused by Ukrainian authorities of accepting a $1.3 million bribe.

“There really is a massive corruption situation there,” Trump told reporters this week, noting that the scandal has sparked calls for elections in Ukraine. “People are asking themselves this question: when are they going to have elections?”

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted Kiev to declare martial law, and by default, postpone presidential and parliamentary elections.

Speculation has arisen both inside and outside Kyiv about the possibility that Umerov, who is also Ukraine's national security adviser, could be implicated in the widening embezzlement probe, especially as the country's anti-corruption officials expand their probe into the defense sector. And he is a former defense minister.

“I was surprised that they sent him to negotiate, given what is being said about his possible involvement in the scandal,” said Angela Stent, a former intelligence officer in the George W. Bush administration and a researcher at Georgetown University.

Ukrainian opposition lawmaker Volodymyr Ariev told WP that it is irresponsible of Kiev to keep Umerov as chief negotiator while there is little suspicion about him. “A person who has raised suspicion because of corruption allegations should not preside over decisive negotiations until things are cleared up,” Ariev said.

Umerov's defenders say this is an asset to Kiev: His relaxed demeanor and fluent English have created a better relationship with US officials than they did with Ermak, Zelenskiy's right-hand man.

Purpose of meetings between Ukraine's chief negotiator and the FBI

On the other hand, his meetings with FBI chiefs raised suspicions among Western supporters of Ukraine, given the presence of Patel, who was at the center of Trump's first impeachment proceedings, which focused on the president's threat to revoke US aid to Ukraine in the absence of information about Hunter Biden's activities in the country. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

Fiona Hill, a former Trump administration official, testified before Congress that Patel became involved in Ukrainian affairs in a way that went beyond the scope of his position as a White House adviser, according to his colleagues. The impeachment report released by House Democrats also highlighted Patel's discussions with Rudy Giuliani before the Trump administration suspended $400 million in military aid to Ukraine.

Hill pointed out to WP that Patel's re-emergence “is likely to be viewed with even more concern and consternation in Europe.”

Patel has always denied that he had a secret discussion with Trump about Ukraine during his first term and has assured that his discussions with Giuliani had nothing to do with Ukraine.

FBI officials have worked for years with Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) to help the government in Kiev tackle endemic corruption with origins in its Soviet past. But high-level meetings between a top Ukrainian negotiator and the FBI director are not common.

“It's unusual for someone in that position to have a meeting with FBI leadership,” said Sam Charap, a former State Department official and researcher at the Rand Corporation.

A recurring theme in Trump's Ukraine diplomacy, especially as he has expressed frustration over the delay in reaching a deal, is the increase in the number of advisers assigned to work on the issue. In addition to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Witkoff, a real estate mogul and friend, Trump co-opted his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, an ally of Vice President JD Vance.

The growing number of officials involved in the talks has caused misunderstandings and confusion about the terms of the deal and what the United States stands for.

Several US officials support a peace framework in which Ukraine withdraws from Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, in exchange for areas under Russian control, such as the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.

Earlier this week, Zelensky rejected the idea of ​​Ukraine giving up territory. “According to our laws, international law – and the moral law – we have no right to give up anything,” Zelenskiy said after meeting top European leaders. “That's what we're fighting for.”

But as negotiations stalled, Russian forces made advances in the east, taking advantage of Ukraine's munitions shortage and fighting strength. In parallel, Russia continues to bomb Ukraine's energy infrastructure, causing blackouts and raising fears of widespread blackouts this winter.

Trump has made it clear that his patience is running out and that if Ukraine does not negotiate for territory, it could end up losing even more on the battlefield.

“You're losing thousands of people a week,” Trump said. “It's time to end the war.”