Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators will hold talks in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, in what officials say is the first meeting attended by all three countries since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.
The Kremlin confirmed Russian officials would attend the talks following a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and US envoys in Moscow.
Russia described those talks as “useful in every respect”, but said a long-term peace deal could not be reached until territorial issues had been resolved.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised European allies for a lack of “political will” in taking action against Russia.
Present at the Thursday night meeting with Putin and two other Russian aides were three US representatives, including Steve Witkoff, and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the talks were “substantive, constructive and very frank”, but reiterated that any agreement for durable peace would not be possible without resolving territorial issues.
“Until this is achieved, Russia will continue to consistently pursue the objectives of the special military operation,” he said.
Ushakov added that Putin emphasised Russia was “sincerely interested” in a diplomatic solution.
“Without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage, there is no hope of achieving a long-term settlement,” he said, a reference to the summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska last year.
Witkoff last year said that Russia had agreed to allow the US and Europe to give Ukraine “robust” security guarantees as part of a potential peace deal.
After meeting with Trump in Davos, Zelensky also made clear that the future status of territory in eastern Ukraine remained an unsolved issue ahead of talks in Abu Dhabi.
“It’s all about the land. This is the issue which is not solved yet,” Zelensky told reporters in Davos, adding that “the Russians have to be ready for compromises, not only Ukraine”.
The territorial sticking points include Russia’s demand that Ukraine give up the 25% of the Donetsk region that Kyiv still controls.
Zelensky joked in Davos that he hoped the UAE knew about the planned meeting on Friday, but in a measure of the seriousness of the talks he named some of his most senior officials as part of the Ukrainian negotiating team.
The head of the country’s national security and defence council, Rustem Umerov, was already talking to US officials in Davos, along with Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Zelensky’s office, and negotiator David Arakhamia. They will be joined in the UAE by the chief of the general staff, Andrii Hnatov.
On the Russian side, the delegation in Abu Dhabi will be led by General Igor Kostyukov, director of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, while investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev will meet with Witkoff separately to discuss economic issues.
Zelensky said last month that a 20-point US plan to end the war was 90% ready and that Ukraine’s position on Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, was different to Russia’s.
He has offered to withdraw troops by up to 40km (25 miles) from the region in order to create an economic zone in Donbas, if Russia does the same.
The US proposal for Ukraine’s industrial heartland in Donbas is for a demilitarised and free economic zone in exchange for security guarantees for Kyiv.
Zelensky also told reporters in Davos that he had reached an agreement with Trump on future US security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a deal.
He gave no details but said it would need to go before the US Congress and Ukrainian parliament before signing.
Zelensky had initially called off his trip to Davos in order to deal with the aftermath of Russian strikes on Kyiv’s power infrastructure, which have left large areas of the capital without heating, water or power during the harshest winter so far in almost four years of Russia’s full-scale war.
Another sticking point Zelensky has is future control of Ukraine’s enormous Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, seized by Russia in March 2022.
