Delegations from Russia, Ukraine, and the United States held joint peace talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday, marking the first known trilateral meeting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Speaking to NBC News after the first round of talks, a White House official described the trilateral meeting as “productive” and said it is set to continue tomorrow, January 24. The Russian state news agency TASS also reported that the parties plan to resume talks on Saturday. “They agreed [to continue]. No one is slamming the door,” a TASS source said.
Ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the delegations were set to discuss the issue of territory. “The issue of Donbas is key. It will be discussed — how the three sides see it — in Abu Dhabi today and tomorrow,” he told journalists on Friday.
In his evening address, Zelensky said the delegations in Abu Dhabi “are discussing the parameters for ending the war.” However, he added that it was “too early to draw conclusions” about the substance of the negotiations. “We will see how the conversation develops tomorrow and what results it produces,” he said.
The two-day talks follow a meeting between Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos on Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin also held a separate late-night meeting with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in Moscow.
Following Putin’s meeting with Trump’s envoys, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the talks lasted for four hours and were “exceptionally in-depth, constructive, and extremely frank.” At the same time, Ushakov reiterated Moscow’s stance on the issue of territory. “Without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage, one shouldn’t count on achieving a long-term settlement,” he said, referring to Putin and Trump’s Alaska summit last August.
Ushakov also maintained that the Kremlin is “sincerely interested” in finding a diplomatic solution to the war. “But until this happens, Russia will continue to persist in achieving the goals of the special military operation on the battlefield,” he added.
