The key facts
- Zelenskyy confirmed that a trilateral meeting of Ukraine, the US and Russia will take place in November
- Putin, according to his adviser Yuri Ushakov, agreed “in principle” to resume the talks after November 10
- Earlier this year, three rounds of talks took place — twice in Abu Dhabi and once in Geneva, with no progress beyond a prisoner exchange
Zelenskyy announced a November meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that a trilateral meeting of Ukraine, the United States and Russia is to take place in November and is intended to restart the stalled peace talks. “We are ready to talk. If it is a territorial issue, it must be resolved at the leadership level. The remaining issues fall within the competence of technical groups. All of this can be discussed in November,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Ukrainian television. Reports about possible talks involving all three parties, aimed at ending the protracted war, have circulated repeatedly in recent weeks.
Washington's diplomatic activity
The statements came amid intensified diplomatic efforts by the administration of US President Donald Trump. His envoy Steve Witkoff met in Oslo on Tuesday with Zelenskyy and European leaders, and on Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg. After these meetings, both Kyiv and Moscow expressed readiness to resume direct talks with Washington's mediation.
Moscow's and Kyiv's positions
Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told journalists that the Russian leader had agreed “in principle” to resume talks after November 10. According to him, the talks will focus on “building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the end of the conflict.” Zelenskyy, for his part, said he supported Washington's efforts to quickly restart the talks. “The agenda is clear: to end the war, bring peace closer and, as I understand, prepare everything for a meeting at the leaders' level,” he said in an audio address on Wednesday evening.
Previous rounds of talks
Representatives of the three countries held three rounds of talks earlier this year: twice in Abu Dhabi in January and February, and then in Geneva in February. However, according to Euronews, no meaningful progress was achieved beyond the exchange of prisoners of war: Moscow and Kyiv stuck to their long-standing basic demands. Editorial conclusion based on these facts: the confirmation of the November date, while disagreements over the parties' basic positions persist, means that the meeting itself does not guarantee a breakthrough, and its outcome will depend on whether territorial issues can be raised to the leaders' level, as Zelenskyy proposes.
Why it matters
The resumption of talks mediated by the United States creates, for the first time in months, a formal format for discussing the end of the conflict, including, according to Moscow, issues of the post-war security system. For Ukraine and Russia, what matters in practical terms is the division of issues between technical groups and leaders, which Zelenskyy outlined as a condition for substantive dialogue. The exact date and venue of the November meeting, as well as the composition of the delegations, remain unclear — sources do not disclose these details.
