US, Ukraine and Russia in first trilateral talks of the war
By Helen Regan, Darya Tarasova, CNN
(CNN) — Ukrainian, United States and Russian negotiators began talks in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, marking the first known meeting to be attended by all three countries since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov confirmed Russia would join representatives from Ukraine and the US for the “first meeting of the trilateral working group on security issues” in Abu Dhabi, confirming an earlier statement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The talks come after President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than three hours beginning late Thursday. Kremlin aide Ushakov described those talks as “exceptionally substantive, constructive, and, I would say, extremely frank and confidential.”
But he also warned that “without resolving the territorial issue… one should not count on achieving a long-term settlement,” and added that Russia would continue to pursue its objectives “on the battlefield, where the Russian Armed Forces hold the strategic initiative,” until an agreement is reached.
Recent US-led efforts to broker an end to the four-year war have so far failed to halt the fighting, with Moscow’s demands Ukraine give up territory claimed by Russia long a sticking-point in negotiations.
Russia is occupying around 20% of the territory recognized under international law as part of sovereign Ukraine, including almost all of the Luhansk region, and parts of the Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Moscow’s longstanding maximalist demands include Ukraine surrendering the entirety of these four regions, which it has annexed but not fully conquered.
Meetings will also take place on Saturday “if needed,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
He added that Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev will also meet separately, one-on-one with Witkoff to discuss economic issues
Russia’s delegation to the trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi consists only of representatives from the country’s Ministry of Defense and will be led by Main Intelligence Directorate Chief Admiral Igor Olegovich Kostyukov. Ukraine’s delegation is led by the country’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov and will include the deputy head of the presidential office and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov. The White House has yet to comment on the meeting.
Minutes after the Putin-Witkoff meeting kicked off, Russia said its long-range bomber aircraft conducted a scheduled five-hour patrol flight over the Baltic Sea on Thursday, a move likely intended as a show of force as diplomatic efforts intensify.
‘Down to one issue’
Hours before flying to Moscow Witkoff said negotiations were “down to one issue,” suggesting an agreement was perhaps within reach.
“I think we’ve got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable,” he said, speaking at an event in Davos on Thursday.
A European official later confirmed to CNN that the remaining issue Witkoff referred to was territory, without giving further specifics.
The Kremlin declined Friday to detail the provisions under discussion but maintained that Ukraine leaving the Donbas region is a “very important condition.”
Russian leader Vladamir Putin’s object of desire has long been Ukraine’s Donbas area which has rich farmland and important rivers. The loss of the region would leave the vast open plains of central Ukraine vulnerable to any future Russian offensive.
The Trump administration has placed increased pressure on Ukraine to accept a peace deal, despite widespread concerns such an arrangement could favor Moscow.
During his speech in Davos, the US President appeared to indicate he felt a breakthrough between the two sides was close. “I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done, and if they don’t, they’re stupid,” Trump said of Zelensky and Putin.
On Thursday Zelensky delivered a fiery speech of his own in Davos, calling out European leaders on not doing more to stop Putin’s war, comparing it to their response to Trump’s threats to annex Greenland.
Zelensky also reiterated that unresolved territorial issues in the East would be central to peace discussions.
“It’s all about the Eastern part of our country, it’s all about the land,” he said. “This is the issue that is not solved yet.”
Ukraine is currently battling to restore power to more than 1 million people left without heating in bitterly cold temperatures after Russian missile and drone attacks.
On Thursday, Ukraine’s Energy Minister said the country’s power grid endured its most difficult day since late 2022 due to “constant enemy attacks.”
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CNN’s Sophie Tanno, Anna Chernova, Kosta Gak, Nina Subkhanberdina, Adam Cancryn, Victoria Butenko, and Ivana Kottasová contributed reporting.
