Official peace talks between the U.S. and Ukraine on ending the Ukraine war moved to a productive phase Sunday – but only after President Zelenskyy sent a new-look team to Florida, according to a former Ukrainian government official.

With Rustem Umerov now leading Zelenskyy’s team and longtime adviser and chief of staff Andriy Yermak out, the source claimed the move signaled Kyiv was reassessing its “uncompromising” stance.

The official, who spoke to Fox News Digital on condition of anonymity, said the personnel choice represented a move away from the approach that has shaped Ukraine’s diplomatic strategy for years.

“Yermak had been teaching Zelenskyy to be a ‘Father of the Nation’ and until now, the Ukrainian side has been pushing for an unachievable and uncompromising position,” the former official said.

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“Umerov is not a very impressively strong individual in politics, but he wants to achieve results and is known to be aligned with compromise.”

Ukraine’s new delegation also included Andrii Hnatov, head of the armed forces; Andrii Sybiha, the foreign minister; and Umerov, who is head of the country’s security council.

After the meeting, Umerov offered a brief assessment to reporters, saying: “We are grateful to American people, American leadership and a great team with, state secretary, Steve, with both Jared Kushner for their tremendous work with us,” he said.

“Our objective is a prosperous, strong Ukraine. We will [be] discussing [sic] the future of Ukraine. We discussed all the important matters that are important for Ukraine, for Ukrainian people. And the U.S was super supportive.”

“We already had a successful meeting in Geneva, and today we can continue this success. So at the moment, this meeting was productive and successful in the later stages.”

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The new team traveled to Florida for discussions aimed at refining President Trump’s proposed framework and his push to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Sunday’s negotiations also took place after a leak published by Bloomberg News, revealed a transcript of an Oct. 14 call where special envoy Steve Witkoff allegedly offered advice to Russian officials on how to sell a peace plan to Trump.

“The Ukrainian side had in some way undermined peace negotiations and Donald Trump’s efforts, not mentioning that it prolongs the war,” the former official said.

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The same former official said the shift in Kyiv’s delegation followed the dramatic resignation of Yermak, after anti-corruption investigators raided his home on Friday.

“Yermak was deeply distrusted by many actors, including Western actors including the U.S. administration and including Biden’s administration,” the source added.

Despite his exit, the official warned that Yermak’s influence may still be shaping the Ukrainian team.

“Mr. Yermak is still there and, in fact, all the delegation that came to Florida includes Mr. Yermak’s people, his loyal people, very close personally to him –  people who [have] been serving him faithfully for years.”

“Yermak has not disappeared and might be on the telephone or online and ruling the agenda behind the scenes,” they added.

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They said Yermak’s long-standing governing style still influences Kyiv’s political posture:

“In Ukraine, as in many post-Soviet countries, there is still the so-called ‘telephone rule’, when a powerful person can influence the outcome of any formal decision-making despite lacking formal powers and in contradiction with the law.”

“Yermak has been doing this for the last six and a half years,” the source added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Witkoff, and senior advisor Jared Kushner led the American side in Sunday’s session.

Rubio told reporters after the meeting: “We had another very productive session. Building off Geneva, building off the events of this week,” he said.

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“As I told you earlier this morning, our goal here is to end the war,” he continued. “But it’s more than just to end the war. We don’t just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever. So never again will they face another invasion. And equally importantly, we want them to enter an age of true prosperity.”

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he had spoken to Rubio and Witkoff and that they were “doing well.”

“Ukraine’s got some difficult little problems,” Trump said. “They have some difficult problems. But I think Russia would like to see it end and I think Ukraine… I know Ukraine would like to see it end.”

He also said he thinks there is “a good chance we can make a deal.”

In a post shared on X, Zelenskyy highlighted Umerov’s work in Florida as the head of the Ukrainian delegation.

“Today, following the work of the teams in the United States, head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov reported on the main parameters of the dialogue, its emphases, and some preliminary results,” he said.

“It is important that the talks have a constructive dynamic and that all issues were discussed openly and with a clear focus on ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and national interests. I am grateful to the United States, to President Trump’s team, and to the President personally for the time that is being invested so intensively in defining the steps to end the war. We will continue working. I look forward to receiving a full report from our team during a personal meeting.”

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Sunday’s talks came just hours after another deadly Russian strike on Kyiv killed at least one person and wounded 19, including four children, Euronews reported.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the war has left huge areas of Ukraine devastated and roughly 20% of its territory under occupation.

American and Ukrainian officials are engaged in talks aimed at creating “reliable security guarantees” for Ukraine as part of a US-backed peace plan ahead of a critical visit to Moscow by United States special envoy Steve Witkoff.

At the meeting in Florida on Sunday, a Ukrainian delegation led by Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, sat down with Witkoff and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said the talks are aimed at “creating a pathway” for a sovereign Ukraine.

“We have clear directives and priorities: safeguarding Ukrainian interests, ensuring substantive dialogue, and advancing on the basis of the progress achieved in Geneva,” Umerov wrote on X.

He added negotiators want to “secure real peace for Ukraine and reliable, long-term security guarantees”.

The talks come a week after Rubio and Ukrainian negotiators met in Geneva, Switzerland to revise US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which initially was criticised as a Russian wish list. The sit-down sets the stage for Witkoff’s planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Trump earlier signalled would take place this week.

Putin said the US draft – which has not yet been published – could serve as a “basis for future agreements”, adding his talks with Witkoff should focus on the Russia-controlled Donbas and Crimea regions.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is participating in the Florida talks, may also be present in Moscow.

“This is about ending a war in a way that creates a mechanism for a way forward that will allow them [Ukraine] to be independent and sovereign and never have another war again, and create tremendous prosperity for its people – not just rebuild the country but to enter an era of extraordinary economic progress,” said Rubio.

Talks between US and Ukrainian officials got off to a “good start” and are taking place in a “warm atmosphere conducive to potential progressive outcome”, said Ukraine’s first deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya on X.

‘Important days’

The negotiations come at a sensitive moment for Ukraine as it continues to push back against Russian forces that invaded in 2022, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reeling from a corruption scandal that led to the resignation of his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, this week.

It was Yermak who sat down with Rubio in Geneva last week to make amendments to Trump’s original 28-point plan, which initially envisioned Ukraine ceding the entire eastern region of the Donbas to Russia, limiting the size of its military, and giving up on joining NATO.

The US pared back the original draft to 19 points following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but the current contents remain unclear.

Zelenskyy wrote on X that the United States is “demonstrating a constructive approach”.

“In the coming days, it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end,” he said.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian president said he spoke with NATO chief Mark Rutte and noted, “These are important days and much can change.”

I spoke with Mark Rutte @SecGenNATO, and we will continue our conversation in the coming days. These are important days, and much can change. We are coordinating closely, and in our efforts – and in the efforts of all our partners – it is our joint measures and shared positions…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 30, 2025

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron hosts Zelenskyy for talks in Paris, the French presidency announced.

As Russia advances on the front line, its forces have targeted Ukraine’s capital and the region for two nights in a row ahead of the talks in the US.

Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight on Saturday killed six people and wounded dozens of others across the country, and cut power to 400,000 households in Kyiv.

A drone attack on the outskirts of Kyiv killed one person and wounded 11, the regional governor said.

Hours earlier, a Ukrainian security source said Kyiv was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers in the Black Sea that it believed were covertly transporting sanctioned Russian oil.