Yermak was accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister Serhii Kyslytsia, who previously served as Ukraine’s Permanent Representative at the UN. The discussion focused on the peace arrangements made in Washington last week, when U.S. President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several other European leaders.
“The main thing is to push for real diplomacy and the implementation of all the Washington summit agreements,” Yermak wrote in a Telegram post.
“We are coordinating our steps.”
At the start of the meeting, Yermak briefed Witkoff about Russian war crimes, including the Aug. 28 air strike on Kyiv that killed 25 people. He said Russia has done nothing required to end the war and is deliberately dragging out the conflict.
“We are open to direct negotiations at the highest level and ready to discuss the widest range of issues,” Yermak added.
“We believe the world needs to pressure Russia to be ready to move toward peace, in particular by holding critically important leader-level meetings.”
Yermak also said he had invited Witkoff to visit Ukraine soon.
Yermak began his U.S. visit alongside Ukrainian PM Yulia Svyrydenko. They attended a service at the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of St. George and honored those killed in a Russian strike on Kyiv on Aug. 28.
On Aug. 27, Zelenskyy announced that Yermak and National Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov would meet in New York on Aug. 29 with U.S. officials to discuss Western security guarantees for Ukraine.