Ukraine's top negotiator praises Witkoff, pushes back against Kyiv Independent's reporting

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff "has done a great job" in Washington-led efforts to help end the Russia-Ukraine war, Foreign Intelligence Chief Rustem Umerov said in an interview with Axios published on Sept. 20, pushing back against concerns regarding Witkoff's role.

Umerov, one of Kyiv's key peace negotiators, rebuffed earlier reporting by the Kyiv Independent that both Ukraine and Russia grow increasingly frustrated with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy.

"I believe that the work of American negotiators should be assessed by people who are directly involved in the negotiation process and work closely with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner," Umerov told Axios.

Despite Umerov's vote of confidence, Ukrainian officials have privately questioned Witkoff's grasp of the intricacies of the war and his interest in the peace process, the Kyiv Independent previously reported.

Behind the scenes, officials in Kyiv also raised concerns about Witkoff's accommodating approach toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian officials, in turn, increasingly believe that the real-estate-investor-turned-diplomat played a role in the failure of last year's summit in Alaska, believing he has failed to pass information about the negotiations to Trump accurately.

Umerov told Axios that he has been working with Witkoff and Kushner every day over the past year, adding that the "main focus is on finding solutions for ending the war and gaining security guarantees and prosperity to Ukrainian people."

Earlier, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly rejected the Kyiv Independent's reporting as "fake news nonsense," while defending Witkoff's role in the peace negotiations.

"President Trump and Special Envoy Witkoff are working incredibly hard to bring an end to this brutal conflict, which has taken hundreds of thousands of lives," she said.

Witkoff and Kushner visited Moscow and Kyiv earlier in September in an effort to advance peace talks, which had been stalled for months amid Russia's territorial demands and Washington's shift of focus toward the war with Iran.

The latest developments come as President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to travel to New York this week and discuss possible ceasefire agreements between Kyiv and Moscow with Trump.

Zelensky recently thanked Trump for signing sweeping legislation on sanctions against Russia and said he wants to discuss with his U.S. counterpart plans to halt Russian and Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure and in the Black Sea.