The Secretary of State, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet with Ukrainian negotiators on Sunday in Florida. The purpose of this meeting is to build upon the recent peace discussions held in Geneva and to finalize the remaining specifics of the agreement reached last week.
This Florida meeting follows the resignation of Andriy Yermak, Ukraine’s chief negotiator, on Friday. His departure occurred after anti-corruption agencies conducted a raid on his home. Ukraine has been implicated in an alleged $100 million kickback corruption scheme reportedly linked to the state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom.
“The dialogue based on the Geneva points will persist. Diplomacy remains active. The American side is demonstrating a constructive stance, and in the coming days, it is feasible to elaborate on the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end,” a source stated. “The Ukrainian delegation possesses the necessary directives, and I anticipate the members will work in accordance with clear Ukrainian priorities.”
Zelenskyy announced on X that Rustem Umerov, who heads the Ukrainian delegation and serves as secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, would spearhead efforts to outline the measures for ending the war and to iron out the outstanding elements of the peace framework.
A U.S. official informed an undisclosed news outlet on Tuesday that Kyiv has largely agreed to the terms, with only minor points still requiring resolution.
Witkoff is expected to travel to Moscow this week to discuss the updated peace framework. This framework reportedly consists of 19 points, a reduction from the original 28, which had been criticized by European leaders as being overly favorable to the Kremlin.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that Moscow might reject the White House’s latest Ukraine peace deal framework if it does not adhere to the “spirit and letter” of the understandings reached at the August Alaska summit between Trump and Vladimir Putin.
He cautioned that if the provisions of the “key understandings” were “extinguished,” the situation would become “fundamentally different.”
Russia has maintained its maximalist demands throughout the negotiations, insisting that Ukraine be barred from joining NATO and be required to cede the remainder of the Donbas region as part of any future agreement.
The Kremlin has continued its drone and missile attacks even as negotiations progress. Zelenskyy stated on Sunday that over the past week alone, an unspecified number of drones, 1,100 guided aerial bombs, and 66 missiles were directed at Ukraine.