Russia, Ukraine to meet for US-brokered talks in UAE
Daniel Flynn and Steve Holland |
Russian and Ukrainian officials are set to meet for two days of US-brokered talks – their first since February – after President Donald Trump suggested a broad peace deal was possible.
European powers, including France, Germany and the European Commission, will send officials to the talks in Abu Dhabi, but Russia has made it clear it doesn’t want the Europeans to take part in negotiations.
Instead, Ukrainian delegates will meet separately to brief their European allies on the progress of the discussions, which are scheduled to begin at around 5.30pm AEDT on Tuesday.
Headed again by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky as chief negotiator, Russia’s delegation will include Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov for the first time and senior military officer Yuri Zhigarlovsky.
Trump had vowed to end the conflict when he took office in January 2025 but the goal to end the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 has remained elusive.
After meeting privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy last week, Trump predicted a peace deal could emerge soon.
“We’re also seeing a very strong inclination to end Russia and Ukraine (war). We’re involved in that,” he told reporters.
Publicly, there has been no sign that Putin is willing to drop his insistence that Ukraine surrender the entire eastern region of Donbas before a peace deal can be struck.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has staunchly refused to hand over land that his forces have died defending. Russian front-line advances have slowed to a virtual halt this year.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s leverage in the talks was increasing as a result of its recent battlefield performance, which has included retaking some territory in Donetsk, a coal-mining area of the Donbas.
“Ukrainian forces are currently genuinely strengthening Ukraine’s negotiating position,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
He said Russia was suffering “record losses” – a claim disputed by Moscow – and urged Washington to convince the Kremlin to end the war.
US negotiators believe Zelenskiy and Putin may be willing to strike a compromise on the vital question of territory, each ceding a little, a US official told Reuters.
Under the proposed deal, Ukraine would get an end to the war, security guarantees and a roadmap to accession to the EU.
A senior Ukrainian official strongly denied the government would consider any such concessions.
A truce on striking energy targets announced by Trump last month quickly fell apart. Ukraine has escalated its strikes on Russian oil refineries in recent weeks and Moscow has pounded Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure and cities.
Before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia demanded the withdrawal of NATO forces from countries that joined the alliance after 1997, which the alliance rejected.
Reuters