Ukrainian, United States and Russian negotiators will maintain talks in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, marking the first recognized assembly to be attended by all three nations since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov confirmed Russia would be part of representatives from Ukraine and the US for the “first meeting of the trilateral working group on security issues” in Abu Dhabi, confirming an earlier assertion from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He didn’t say at what time the talks have been scheduled to start.
The talks come after President Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for greater than three hours starting late Thursday. Kremlin aide Ushakov described these talks as “exceptionally substantive, constructive, and, I would say, extremely frank and confidential.”
But he additionally warned that “without resolving the territorial issue… one should not count on achieving a long-term settlement,” and added that Russia would proceed to pursue its targets “on the battlefield, where the Russian Armed Forces hold the strategic initiative,” till an settlement is reached.
Recent US-led efforts to dealer an finish to the four-year war have to date did not halt the combating, with Moscow’s calls for Ukraine surrender territory claimed by Russia lengthy a sticking-point in negotiations.
Russia is occupying round 20% of the territory acknowledged beneath worldwide legislation as half of sovereign Ukraine, together with nearly all of the Luhansk area, and components of the Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia areas.
Moscow’s longstanding maximalist calls for embody Ukraine surrendering the entirety of these 4 areas, which it has annexed however not absolutely conquered.
Russia’s delegation to Abu Dhabi shall be led by Main Intelligence Directorate Chief Admiral Igor Olegovich Kostyukov. Ukraine’s will embody the deputy head of the presidential workplace and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov. The White House has but to touch upon the assembly.
Minutes after the Putin-Witkoff assembly kicked off, Russia mentioned its long-range bomber plane performed a scheduled five-hour patrol flight over the Baltic Sea on Thursday, a transfer possible meant as a present of power as diplomatic efforts intensify.
Hours earlier than flying to Moscow Witkoff mentioned negotiations have been “down to one issue,” suggesting an settlement was maybe inside attain.
“I think we’ve got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable,” he mentioned, talking at an occasion in Davos on Thursday.
A European official later confirmed to NCS that the remaining situation Witkoff referred to was territory, with out giving additional specifics.
Russian chief Vladamir Putin’s object of want has lengthy been Ukraine’s Donbas space which has wealthy farmland and necessary rivers. The loss of the area would go away the huge open plains of central Ukraine vulnerable to any future Russian offensive.
The Trump administration has positioned elevated strain on Ukraine to simply accept a peace deal, regardless of widespread considerations such an association might favor Moscow.
During his speech in Davos, the US President appeared to point he felt a breakthrough between the two sides was shut. “I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done, and if they don’t, they’re stupid,” Trump mentioned of Zelensky and Putin.
On Thursday Zelensky delivered a fiery speech of his personal in Davos, calling out European leaders on not doing extra to cease Putin’s war, evaluating it to their response to Trump’s threats to annex Greenland.
Zelensky additionally reiterated that unresolved territorial points in the East could be central to peace discussions.
“It’s all about the Eastern part of our country, it’s all about the land,” he mentioned. “This is the issue that is not solved yet.”
Ukraine is presently battling to revive energy to greater than 1 million folks left with out heating in bitterly chilly temperatures after Russian missile and drone attacks.
On Thursday, Ukraine’s Energy Minister mentioned the nation’s energy grid endured its most tough day since late 2022 as a result of “constant enemy attacks.”