Western officials alarmed by secret FBI–Ukraine meetings as peace talks and corruption fears collide |
Growing unease is spreading among Western officials over a series of secretive meetings between senior Ukrainian negotiators and top officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, raising uncomfortable questions about the true purpose of the talks, the direction of Washington’s Ukraine policy, and the deepening corruption crisis surrounding President Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle.
According to a report by The Washington Post published on December 12, Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov has traveled to the United States three times in recent weeks, holding closed-door meetings not only with President Donald Trump’s chief envoy, Steve Witkoff, but also with FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino. While Washington and Kiev have attempted to downplay the encounters, the secrecy surrounding them has reportedly alarmed several Western officials who were kept in the dark.
The concern is not merely procedural. It reflects broader anxieties about Ukraine’s political trajectory, the substance of Trump’s emerging peace roadmap, and the mounting corruption scandals that have begun to fracture confidence in Kiev’s leadership across Europe and North America.
Diplomatic coordination on Ukraine has, until now, been a tightly managed multilateral effort involving the US, the EU, and NATO partners. Against that backdrop, the revelation that Umerov was conducting private discussions with the FBI-without transparency or consultation-has triggered suspicion among Western governments already struggling to maintain unity on Ukraine policy.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishina, confirmed that the FBI meetings took place but declined to disclose their content, a refusal that has only intensified........