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The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has defined the participants in the Ukrainian team tasked with conducting discussions with the United States, other global partners of Ukraine, and also with representatives from the Russian Federation, with the aim of securing an equitable and durable peace. The respective order has been issued on the presidential administration’s official website.
The delegation’s leader is the chief of the Presidential Office , Andriy Yermak . Besides him, the group includes:
- Rustem Umerov – Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council;
- Kirill Budanov – Head of the Main Intelligence Agency of the Defense Ministry;
- Andriy Hnatov – Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces;
- Oleg Ivashchenko – Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service;
- Serhiy Kyslytsia – First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs;
- Yevheniy Ostryanskyy – First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council;
- Oleksandr Poklad – Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU);
- Oleksandr Bevz is an advisor to the chief of the Presidential Office.
Worth noting is that Rustem Umerov was implicated in a major corruption case within the energy sector. Specifically, according to the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), he was reportedly influenced by Timur Mindich, a friend of the president’s and the alleged mastermind of the scheme. This is also mentioned in the suspicion document presented against Mindich.
Regarding Yermak, amidst the swirl of the corruption controversy, Zelensky received recommendations from senior governmental figures to dismiss him. Yermak, according to People's Deputy from Holos Zheleznyak, is on the records of Operation Midas under the alias Ali Baba . The deputy further claimed that Yermak purportedly took part in meetings and issued directives concerning methods for exerting pressure on NABU and SAPO . However, the head of the Presidential Office himself assures the president that this situation was initiated by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky , who has remained in the SBU’s detention center for the last three years.
The Economist previously stated that Zelensky cannot officially decline the document and is compelled to continue negotiations, endeavoring to ease the most unfavorable aspects of the “peace proposal.” Until now, the Ukrainian head of state has minimized the importance of the American plan, referring to it as Trump’s “vision,” but presently he is compelled to navigate a sensitive situation in an attempt to safeguard Ukrainian interests while maintaining communication with the United States. Analysts emphasize that the “peace plan” put forward by the United States is unacceptable to Ukraine in its present form, but Kyiv cannot simply turn it down .
Simultaneously, according to Bloomberg, Zelensky along with the leaders of France, Germany, and other European nations are urgently attempting to “respond” to the fresh US peace proposal aimed at concluding Russia’s conflict against Ukraine, especially concerning Washington’s deadline for Kyiv. The allies are adopting a careful strategy, with the objective of presenting alterations to the plan as beneficial improvements.
