WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House aims to use this week's talks with Ukrainian and Russian officials in part to persuade Moscow to agree to broader negotiations that would include key European officials on how to end nearly five years of war, U.S. officials said.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s aides Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are slated to meet in the United Arab Emirates with officials from Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy, NATO and the European
Union. They'll discuss potential security guarantees and the long-term security architecture between Russia and Europe before the U.S. negotiators' scheduled talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials on Tuesday and Wednesday, the officials said.
Russia has resisted European participation in negotiations and insisted the talks should proceed strictly as a trilateral format involving Russia, Ukraine, and the United States. The three last held talks in February.
But one of the U.S. officials, who briefed reporters before the talks and spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said the Republican administration believes “very strongly that at this point, in order to end the war, you really need to have Europe at the table.”
If talks go well this week in Abu Dhabi, Witkoff and Kushner could soon travel to Moscow and Kyiv to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the official told reporters.
The Abu Dhabi talks come as Russia continued to batter Ukraine’s power grid again on Monday and as Ukrainian forces hit another of Russia’s biggest oil refineries.
The two countries remain locked in battle with no sign that either side is ready to budge from their demands. The war has already killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians, analysts and humanitarian organizations say.
Trump said in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday that Moscow and Kyiv are “very close” to a deal, despite “tremendous hatred” between Putin and Zelenskyy.
He said Ukraine would have “a little bit different shape” under the settlement, but he didn’t elaborate.
Trump has previously made statements about developments in the war that haven't materialized.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Trump’s team has placed “collective security,” covering not just Russia and Ukraine but also a wider area, at the top of the agenda.
The last three-way talks, in Geneva nine months ago, also took place as attacks continued. The negotiations delivered no significant progress in ending the war, but some circumstances have changed.
Trump, whose stance on the war has varied, has to reckon with Democrats taking over the U.S. Congress in January following the U.S. midterm elections. Democrats could demand more support for Ukraine.
Russian state finances are under heavy strain because of the war, and Ukraine’s economy is being choked by the relentless attacks.
In Abu Dhabi, the talks will look at what security guarantees would satisfy Russia, which sees NATO as a threat, and Ukraine, which wants to prevent future Russian invasions.
Putin has sought to sideline European countries and negotiate Ukraine’s future directly with Trump. However, European leaders and Ukraine have insisted that they be included.
Moscow says European representatives won’t be directly involved in the Abu Dhabi discussions, but European officials said representatives will be in the country.
Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said European officials will hold a “separate coordination” with the delegation from Kyiv.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the meeting would focus on trilateral negotiations, with the United States mediating between Russia and Ukraine.
“You are aware that the Americans have their own channels of communication with the Europeans, as do the Ukrainians, and it appears they are already establishing their own methods of coordination,” Peskov said. “But, to reiterate, this is a matter of trilateral negotiations.”
Russian forces targeted four electrical substations in Ukraine’s Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Vinnytsia regions, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday. The attacks are part of Russia’s campaign to deny Ukrainian civilians heating, light and running water during the approaching winter.
Zelenskyy said Monday that the European Union had agreed to activate a special emergency mechanism that speeds up funding for power grid repairs.
Russia launched 317 drones of various types including 105 jet-powered drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said.
Russian aerial attacks have pummeled Ukraine throughout the war, with gruesome consequences. A Russian glide bomb attack last week near the front line in the southern Zaporizhzhia region killed at least 55 people at an aid distribution center.
On Monday, Russian forces hit a warehouse in Odesa in southwestern Ukraine containing food supplies for kindergartens and schools, killing three people, local officials said.
Meanwhile, an attack by long-range drones developed by Ukraine during the war started a fire at the KINEF oil refinery, one of Russia’s largest, close to St. Petersburg and more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from the Ukrainian border, Leningrad Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said Monday.
Ukraine said in early October that its long-range strikes had neutralized more than half of Russia’s oil refining capacity, hampering Moscow’s ability to supply its forces.
Ukrainian forces also struck a plant near St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, that produces solid rocket propellant for Russia’s Iskander-M ballistic missiles, Ukraine’s General Staff said.
Ukraine is trying to prevent Russia from firing ballistic missiles, which Kyiv’s forces can’t stop once they are in the air without more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems. Patriot missiles, however, are in short supply.
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Blann reported from Kyiv. Farnoush Amir in New York and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
