The key facts

  • Another round of talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US may take place within the next few weeks, Reuters reports citing unnamed sources.
  • Zelensky: the meeting is planned for the first half of November, «we are ready even tomorrow, but everything depends on the Russians».
  • The Kremlin previously named Abu Dhabi as the venue; the previous two rounds there produced no serious progress.

Talks may take place in the coming weeks

Another round of talks on ending Russia's war against Ukraine may be held within the next few weeks, the Reuters news agency reported on 23 October, citing unnamed sources in government circles. The meeting is expected to involve delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the United States, but it remains unclear whether representatives of Kyiv and Moscow will speak directly or negotiate through US mediation. According to a Washington official, the ultimate goal of the possible talks is to prepare a summit-level meeting.

Zelensky: everything depends on the Russians

On 23 October, during a video address to the US think tank Hudson Institute, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that an agreement had been reached on a trilateral meeting at the level of negotiating teams. «We are planning the meeting in the first half of November. We are ready to meet on any day, even tomorrow. But everything depends on the Russians,» he said. According to him, key issues can only be resolved by heads of state, so it is necessary to move from technical trilateral talks to a meeting of leaders.

The Kremlin's position and previous rounds

Shortly before that, the Kremlin reported that the talks would take place in the first half of November in Abu Dhabi. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting would discuss issues of ensuring the security of Russia and Ukraine after the end of the war, and that European Union representatives would not take part in the talks. Two days earlier, Vladimir Putin received US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg, after which Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced Moscow's readiness to resume trilateral talks with the US and Ukraine. Delegations from the three countries have already held two closed meetings in Abu Dhabi — on 23–24 January and 4–5 February — but neither produced serious progress towards ending the war. According to DW, citing Reuters, possible new talks between the delegations of the US, Ukraine and Russia may take place in the UAE or Switzerland.

Why this matters

For Ukraine and Russia, this is the first clearly indicated chance in a long time to move the negotiation process forward: according to Reuters sources, the aim of the current round is to prepare a leaders' meeting, and Zelensky himself stresses that key issues are decided only by heads of state. At the same time, the experience of the two previous rounds in Abu Dhabi, which yielded no progress, shows that the outcome of the new round is not guaranteed. The format also remains uncertain: whether it will be direct contacts between Kyiv and Moscow or talks through US mediation.