Diplomatic efforts to halt Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have accelerated in recent months, although Moscow and Kyiv remain divided over territorial issues in any potential post war settlement.
US negotiators, led by envoy Steve Witkoff, held talks with Putin in Moscow that stretched into the early hours of Friday, according to a Kremlin statement. Kremlin diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov said the discussions were useful in every respect.
Witkoff and his team are expected to travel next to Abu Dhabi, where further discussions will take place. A Russian delegation headed by Igor Kostyukov, director of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, will also arrive there within hours, Ushakov said.
He added that it was agreed the first meeting of a trilateral working group on security issues would be held on Friday in Abu Dhabi. Ushakov said Russia was genuinely interested in resolving the conflict through political and diplomatic means, but added that until an agreement is reached, Moscow would continue to pursue its objectives on the battlefield.
Witkoff has previously said he believed the two sides were down to one remaining issue, without providing details.
Footage released by the Kremlin showed Putin shaking hands with Witkoff, Jared Kushner and White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum.
The meeting came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a draft deal was nearly ready and that he and US President Donald Trump had agreed on post war security guarantees. Zelensky also said the United Kingdom and France had already committed to deploying forces on the ground.
Zelensky said Ukraine’s delegation to the UAE talks would be led by Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, and would include Lieutenant General Andriy Gnatov, chief of staff of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Russia, which currently occupies about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, is seeking full control of the eastern Donbas region as part of any agreement. Kyiv has warned that giving up territory would embolden Moscow and has said it will not sign a deal that fails to prevent a renewed Russian assault.
The details of the UAE talks have not been made public and it remains unclear whether Russian and Ukrainian officials will meet face to face. Zelensky said the discussions would last two days.
Trump said on Wednesday he believed Putin and Zelensky were close to reaching a deal. Speaking after an address in Davos, he said both sides were at a point where they could come together and finalise an agreement.
Zelensky, also speaking in Davos, criticised what he described as Europe’s lack of political will to counter Russia. He said that instead of becoming a true global power, Europe remained fragmented. He also warned that recent shifts in US foreign policy, including Trump’s remarks about Greenland, had raised concerns in Europe about Washington’s reliability as a security partner.
Meanwhile, Russian strikes this week have left large parts of Kyiv without electricity and heating, with residents of around 4,000 buildings affected amid sub zero temperatures. Moscow says the strikes target energy infrastructure linked to Ukraine’s military industrial complex, while Kyiv says they amount to war crimes aimed at exhausting the civilian population.
