Abu Dhabi is being considered as the venue for renewed talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, Oct. 22.
Moscow has suggested holding the meeting around mid-November, while Kyiv wants talks by early November. The three sides have not jointly confirmed a date or venue.
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Peskov told reporters that the UAE capital was under discussion but declined to elaborate on preparations for documents or proposals ahead of the meeting.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov had indicated a possible meeting around mid-November, describing it as talks between negotiating teams or experts. He said Russia had not yet decided who would attend.
Kyiv seeks an earlier meeting
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday, Oct. 21, that Ukraine supported a US proposal to meet as soon as possible, preferably no later than early November.
“We have received feedback that Russia supports a trilateral meeting at the level of our negotiating teams,” Zelensky told reporters, according to Reuters.
He said Ukraine was ready to participate. Kyiv Post previously reported that Washington had relayed Moscow’s willingness to resume the negotiations following US envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Russia.
The diplomatic contacts began with talks in Oslo on Oct. 20 involving Witkoff, Zelensky and European leaders. They discussed security guarantees, territorial questions, sanctions and Ukraine’s postwar economy.
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Witkoff then met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Oct. 21 to discuss proposals emerging from those consultations.
Representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the US held three rounds of negotiations earlier this year: two in Abu Dhabi in January and February, followed by talks in Geneva in February. Those meetings did not produce an agreement to end the war.
Moscow emphasizes postwar security
Ushakov said Moscow wanted the next round to focus on security arrangements for Russia and Ukraine after the war.
Kyiv has backed renewed negotiations while also calling for a ceasefire, an end to attacks on energy infrastructure and humanitarian measures. No shared agenda for the proposed Abu Dhabi meeting has been announced.
Ukraine is also seeking enforceable guarantees against another Russian attack. As Kyiv Post reported, Zelensky has outlined US commitments modeled on NATO’s Article 5 and backed by Congress, alongside NATO membership and a European-led Coalition of the Willing.
He has described those arrangements as complementary, rather than competing alternatives. No final agreement on the guarantees has been announced.
The proposed November meeting would bring negotiating teams back together; it would not itself constitute a leaders’ summit or confirmation that the parties are ready to sign a settlement.
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