Andrii Veselovskyi, diplomat and advisor to the director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, stated this on Espreso TV."So, what does all this mean? It seemed that in the morning, we all saw positive, pleasant statements from Rubio and Umerov, who had finished negotiations and were supposedly leaving. It was even said that Umerov was flying to Paris, but it turned out that this was not the case. It turned out that Umerov was staying, though it's unknown if the entire Ukrainian delegation remained with him. This has not been reported. Umerov stayed, and the next day, he and Witkoff talked again. What could this indicate? Well, we can only guess, because neither of them will write truthful memoirs. Most likely, it looks like Witkoff received—how should I put it—a mild rebuke, or more harshly, a good dressing-down for conspiring with Dmitriev and the Russian Federation to devise plans against Ukraine," he said.Andrii Veselovskyi noted that Witkoff was appointed as someone who was supposed to find common ground between Ukraine and Russia, not to deceive Ukraine behind its back by agreeing to assist Russia. "This was exposed as a result of media publications. And, of course, even though Trump justified it by saying that negotiators always do this, no, negotiators don't always do that. Witkoff does.""So, Witkoff was not expelled from the delegation, nor was he removed from his post, because they are willing to talk to him in Moscow. It's unknown how they will talk to anyone else, or if they will talk at all. But he took his rightful place. He sat next to Rubio, who was leading the negotiations. You mentioned body language; I would also add the expression on Serhii Kyslytsia's face, who was sitting directly opposite Witkoff and, with his entire demeanor, showed his disapproval. This is correct. Witkoff also had a distorted expression, but what does this say? It says that a prominent member of the Ukrainian delegation, let's say, did not hide his attitude, and this means that the delegation knew that he would not hide his attitude. And this means that it was the shared opinion of this delegation. This is the second point. The third point is why they stayed. They stayed precisely because Witkoff either committed to, or demonstrated during these talks, that he would no longer act in the interests of the Russian Federation. Whether this can be believed is unknown. But the very fact that they stayed—the two of them, with Umerov—and conducted additional negotiations indicates that there is movement," he noted.The diplomat also emphasized that hints about the nature of this movement have appeared in the media."I'll give an example: a report was published, for instance, stating that NATO member countries and the Russian Federation, or the United States and the Russian Federation, will adopt some statement or declaration that Ukraine will not be a member of NATO. But Ukraine will neither change its Constitution nor declare that it will join this declaration, nor declare that it will not be a member of NATO. Thus, Ukraine retains its narrative, its Constitution. Russia gets an excuse for Putin, for its citizens: 'See, we achieved it, Ukraine will not be a member of NATO.' And every declaration or statement is only valid at the moment of its adoption. We know this. As it was declared, so it can be re-declared after some time. So, my assumption is that Witkoff and Umerov were working precisely on how to maintain Ukraine's red lines—namely, territory, NATO, and security—while at the same time, how to present this in such a way that Russia would agree to it, because Witkoff should not go with proposals that are unacceptable to Russia in advance. Otherwise, there would be no reason to go. This is the current situation," added Andrii Veselovskyi.On December 1, the head of the Ukrainian negotiating group in the U.S. and Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov, reported to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the results of the negotiations in Florida.