Ukraine's chief negotiator set to visit US this week for meeting with Special Envoy Witkoff – Bloomberg

Rustem Umierov, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, is expected to travel to Miami this week for talks with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Source: Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter

Details: Peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow have stalled, as Russian leader Vladimir Putin continues to demand that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the parts of Donetsk Oblast that Russian forces have been unable to capture militarily.

Quote: "Multiple rounds of earlier talks to end the war made some progress in many areas, but the status of the region, alongside clarity on the details of any security guarantees Ukraine would receive from its allies, remain the main sticking points to negotiations advancing further."

Details: Sources cited by Bloomberg, including a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to provide details on the potential agenda of the meeting between Umierov and Witkoff.

Umierov's chief of staff, Diana Davitian, also declined to comment.

Background:

• In March 2026, Umierov and Witkoff met in Florida, where they focused "on issues of reliable security guarantees and humanitarian issues, in particular the exchange and return of our [Ukrainian] citizens".
• At the beginning of May 2026, reports emerged that US President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in no rush to visit Kyiv, amid concerns in Washington that renewed talks would fail to produce results due to the parties' radically different positions on territorial issues.

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