Russia, Ukraine and the United States are planning to resume trilateral talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine in the United Arab Emirates in November, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday,
as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict gained momentum following meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
The talks have been at a standstill since the beginning of the year. However, Moscow has now signalled its readiness to resume discussions following a meeting between Putin and Witkoff in Saint Petersburg this week.
The next round of negotiations is “planned for the first half of November in Abu Dhabi” and “will take place in a trilateral format”, Peskov told reporters.
The announcement comes amid intensified diplomatic efforts by US President Donald Trump’s administration to bring an end to the conflict, which is now in its fifth year. Witkoff first met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in Oslo on Tuesday before meeting Putin on Wednesday.
Following the meetings, both Kyiv and Moscow voiced their readiness to resume direct talks mediated by Washington.
Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has suggested that the talks could take place “around November 10”, while Zelensky has called for discussions to resume “as soon as possible”.
In a televised interview aired late Thursday, Putin said any trilateral talks would focus on the security arrangements of a final peace deal rather than a “short” truce.
