Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the future of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region will be a key focus as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States meet in Abu Dhabi on Friday for talks to end Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion.
The three-way talks come hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the settlement in Ukraine with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys during marathon overnight talks. The Kremlin insisted that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but never fully captured.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, reiterated his openness to establishing a free trade zone under Ukraine’s control in the country’s east. He said he discussed the proposal with Trump in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, and told reporters: “I think it will be positive for our business.”
It’s unclear if Friday’s talks would see the Ukrainian and Russian sides meeting in the same room. Zelenskyy said that he would brief European partners of the outcome.
“Today’s meeting will be in the format of Ukraine, Russia and the United States, and afterward the Europeans will certainly receive feedback from us,” he told journalists in a WhatsApp audio message.
The Kremlin offered little detail beyond calling the meeting a “working group on security issues.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian delegation, headed by Adm. Kostyukov, comprises of military officials. He said the talks could extend into Saturday “if necessary.”
Separately, Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev will hold talks with Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff on economic issues, he confirmed.
The Kremlin meeting, which lasted past 3 a.m. Friday, came hours after Zelenskyy sharply criticized his European allies Thursday for what he cast as their slow and fragmented response that he said has left Ukraine at the mercy of Putin amid an ongoing U.S. push for a peace settlement.
Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who participated in Putin’s meeting with Trump’s envoys Witkoff and Jared Kushner, said “it was reaffirmed that reaching a long-term settlement can’t be expected without solving the territorial issue.”
Zelenskyy said after meeting Thursday with Trump in Davos, Switzerland, that the future status of land in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia remains unresolved but that peace proposals are “nearly ready.”
Ushakov noted that Trump’s envoys informed Putin about Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy, as well as earlier discussions they had with Ukrainian and European officials. The Kremlin talks that he described as “frank, constructive” and “fruitful” began when it was just before midnight in Moscow and lasted nearly four hours.
Witkoff and Kushner were joined by Josh Gruenbaum, the head of the Federal Acquisition Service who serves as a senior adviser on Trump’s Board of Peace that Russia has been invited to join. While Russia is considering the invitation, Putin reaffirmed his offer to send $1 billion to the board from Russian assets frozen in the U.S. to help fund rebuilding Gaza.
Asked about Putin’s proposal to use Russia’s frozen assets for the contribution to the Board of Peace, Trump said he thought it was fine. “If he’s using his money, that’s great,” he said
AP
