(ANSA-AFP) - KYIV, 29 NOV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday removed his powerful chief of staff and top negotiator, Andriy Yermak, after detectives raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe. Yermak's removal deals a serious blow to Zelensky, who is facing a mounting Russian offensive in the east just as the United States, a crucial ally, peddles a plan to end the war that Kyiv fears will hand big concessions to Moscow. Yermak, 54, was supposed to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine at crunch peace talks in the United States this weekend. A team of Ukrainian negotiators was on Saturday headed to the United States for talks on Washington's plan to end the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. "Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov, together with the team, is already on the way to the United States," Zelensky said in a post on X. (ANSA-AFP).