OMM Newsroom
The United States will host Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Abu Dhabi next week. US special envoy Steve Witkoff said the meeting would be the first US-mediated peace talks since February.
According to AnewZ, Witkoff wrote on social media on November 2 that the November 10-11 discussions would cover “post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian measures and ending the war.”
A senior US official said the American mediation team is expected to be led by Witkoff and fellow special envoy Jared Kushner. The United States is seeking to make progress before winter begins.
The meeting will follow Witkoff’s visit to St. Petersburg in October, when he met Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After the meeting, the Kremlin said Putin was ready to resume trilateral talks in November to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
Senior Russian diplomat Yuri Ushakov told state television channel Vesti in October that he believed the war was nearing its end, but said it was difficult to predict how long that would take.
US President Donald Trump has increased pressure on Kyiv in recent months to reach an agreement. He told reporters in Washington in October that Ukraine “should want to make a deal” and warned that without an agreement, the situation would “get even worse.” Trump added that Ukraine did not have enough manpower to defeat Russia.
Abu Dhabi hosted the first face-to-face talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations earlier this year. The last US-mediated talks took place in February, before the US and Israel attacked Iran.
US officials to meet European counterparts in Brussels
Separately, a US official said American negotiators would meet officials from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO in Brussels this week.
The meetings will address security guarantees for Ukraine, Europe’s future security framework and economic support for the country’s recovery.
The official said the meetings show that Trump’s efforts to secure a lasting peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine are continuing.
The war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, is now in its fifth year.
