The key facts

  • The November 4 meeting in Brussels produced no practical results on a settlement — TASS source
  • The EC presented the meeting as a discussion of Ukraine's post-war reconstruction
  • The next round of Russia–Ukraine consultations mediated by the US will take place on November 10–11 in Abu Dhabi

Outcome of the Brussels meeting

The meeting of technical delegations from the European Commission, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Ukraine and the World Bank, held on November 4 in Brussels, ended without results. TASS reports this, citing a diplomatic source in Brussels: «No practical results were achieved at the meeting in terms of a possible settlement of the conflict». At the same time, the European Commission itself stated that the participants discussed «post-war reconstruction and the development of Ukraine» — that is, the official agenda announced by the EC was shifted toward the economic plane, whereas the agency's source speaks of a lack of progress specifically in the peace process.

How the meeting came together

About the upcoming talks the official representative of the EC, Paula Pinho, announced the day before, on November 3: according to her, consultations with delegations from the United States and the United Kingdom on Ukraine's reconstruction and its economic future were to take place in Brussels, with officials from NATO, France, Germany and the World Bank also invited. On November 4 Verkhovna Rada member Oleksiy Honcharenko reported: that representatives of Washington and Kyiv would meet to discuss issues of Ukraine's reconstruction. Earlier, the US president's special envoy Steve Witkoff announced talks with Europe on security guarantees for Ukraine.

Context: Miami and Abu Dhabi

The Brussels meeting was a continuation of diplomatic consultations previously held in Miami, in the United States. As Life.ru reported: the October talks between representatives of Kyiv, Washington, the EU and NATO ended ahead of schedule: the delegations did not agree on holding a second day of the meeting, and the reasons for this decision were not initially disclosed.

The next stage — Abu Dhabi

The next stage of the negotiation process is scheduled for November 10–11 in Abu Dhabi. Steve Witkoff confirmed that consultations between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by the United States, would take place: the parties intend to discuss ending the conflict, post-war security guarantees and de-escalation measures. This concerns a meeting of negotiating teams, not heads of state. Thus, the fruitless outcome of the Brussels meeting does not mean the process has stalled — the key discussions have been moved to a format involving Russia, which was not represented in Brussels.