Yermak Out, Umerov In: Ukraine’s Negotiations Just Got Even Riskier in Washington

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Kyiv has always had a taste for mysticism, but in recent weeks it has reached new heights. Formally, Yermak was “thrown off the steamship of history,” yet behind the polished announcements lies a storm of scandal, recriminations, and political calculation.

It seems they handled it like the Mafioso are sent into “witness protection” in the movies: alive, well, and still managing the operations — only now from the second row, from the same “front line” that, it turns out, stretches into every negotiation room.

What do we see? Zelenskyy proudly swaps the head of the negotiators: “Yermak out, Umerov in” — yet he hasn’t even reviewed the rest of the delegation. As before, it is filled with freelance advisers: figures without a mandate, without responsibility, but with an uncanny ability to relay the impulses of their former boss, like Bankova’s own Wi-Fi repeaters.

In Poland, this is already being remarked upon. Because where else, if not in Warsaw, do they understand that if state negotiations suddenly start being run by people whose presence contradicts everything considered normal by a significant part of the electorate, then this is not diplomacy — it is experimental theatre. And on the stage, as always, shines Oleksandr Bevz: a freelance adviser, heir to the “Peace Formula,” and most importantly, a classmate of Zarivna and Vlasyuk — figures who ended up in the OPU at Yermak’s recommendation.

And now the same person is “at work” again: either editing the 28-point Dmitriev–Witkoff document or declaring that the previous version “no longer exists.” Yet it does exist — and his channel of communication with Yermak, who apparently still controls half the game even from the sidelines, remains intact.

There is only one question: why introduce Umerov if the negotiating team is still accompanied by the same “freelancers” from Yermak’s design studio? This is almost a classic Arestovich: no official position, huge influence, zero accountability.

The Americans are also taken aback. They have their own traditions, and a conservative wing of the Republicans — a very influential one — already views Kyiv with suspicion. Now, the delegation includes someone who does not hide his non-traditional sexual orientation. Many in the American political establishment may see Bevz’s presence as a provocative distraction from the substance of the negotiations. In the U.S., Bevz may not even be considered a negotiator at all, but rather an unfortunate meme. It is as if someone has got to the State Department with a gift set: “Here’s a document, and here’s a surprise — figure it out yourself.”

All of this resembles not an update to the state machinery, but an operation of “Yermak in every socket.” The official cable has been disconnected, but the Wi-Fi remains, and now the signal can even reach Geneva.

Ukraine has reached a point where every inappropriate character in the delegation is not a joke, but a genuine risk to the country’s future. The question is simple: does Kyiv truly want peace — or does it want Yermak to continue rewriting peace plans, operating not from a chair, but from the shadows?

It appears that while one person was removed from the process, the process itself hasn’t changed at all. More importantly, perhaps it’s time to purge this critical delegation of Yermak’s advisers.

Recall that on November 30, a meeting of senior US officials and a Ukrainian delegation was held in Hallandale Beach, Florida, aimed at discussing the end of the war in Ukraine. The talks were characterized as tough but constructive, and involved the most sensitive issues.

However, the negotiations between the Ukrainian and American delegations in Florida did not provide an answer to the main question – what security guarantees Ukraine will receive. As The Wall Street Journal reports, citing its own sources, the key topic remains Russian territorial claims.

In addition, according to CNN, the American and Ukrainian delegations held intensive negotiations at the luxurious Shell Bay Club in Miami. They called the consultations “a step forward” and noted that the delegations continued the progress made at the previous meeting in Geneva. The sources emphasized that the parties discussed in detail the most difficult points of the future agreement, although decisions are still far from being made.

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