The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov has denied publications in Western media according to which he has approved or positively assessed the US plan to end the war. In a statement on Telegram, Umerov stressed that such allegations are not true, News.bg reports.
“During my business trip to the United States, my task was technical – organizing meetings and preparing the dialogue. I did not give any assessments or agreements on any points. This is not within my powers and does not correspond to the procedure“, he said.
The reason for the reaction was a publication by the New York Post, which cited high-ranking American sources, according to whom Umerov “positively spoke“ for most elements of the plan and Kiev agreed “with the majority of the proposals“. The publication also claims that Ukraine requested a change to a controversial point for a full audit and a mechanism for prosecuting persons who had illegally enriched themselves during the war, proposing to replace it with an amnesty point for both sides.
Similar claims also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, according to which, instead of an audit of international aid, a point for “full amnesty for actions during the war“ was included.
Umerov categorically rejected these data as well: “Publications about alleged ‘agreement’ or ‘point-scoring’ have nothing to do with reality. This is unverified information, outside the context of the consultations.“
Earlier, Axios reported that Umerov's comments were included in the US draft, but specified that the Ukrainian representative did not agree with the text and indicated a number of objections.
The Ukrainian side continues to emphasize that there are no final decisions or agreed positions on the American plan and that Kiev has not accepted conditions that would violate its “red lines“.