A second spherical of trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the US on a US-drafted plan to finish the almost four-year battle in Ukraine will now happen on February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned, asserting a delay from the sooner anticipated timeline.Zelenskyy didn’t clarify why the talks, initially anticipated over the weekend, had been postponed. “The dates for the following trilateral conferences have been set – February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi,” he mentioned in a submit on X. Neither the Kremlin nor the US has formally confirmed the brand new dates thus far.Zelenskyy mentioned Ukraine was ready for “substantive talks” and wished an consequence that may result in a “actual and dignified finish to the battle”. He added that the replace adopted a report from Ukraine’s negotiating crew, signalling that Kyiv stays engaged with the US-led diplomatic course of regardless of the shortage of progress in earlier discussions.The announcement got here a day after one among Russian President Vladimir Putin’s high envoys, Kirill Dmitriev, held shock talks with senior US officers in Florida with out Ukraine’s participation.As per information company AFP, these current on the US facet included President Donald Trump’s peace envoy Steve Witkoff, treasury secretary Scott Bessent, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White Home senior adviser Josh Gruenbaum.“We’re inspired by this assembly that Russia is working towards securing peace in Ukraine,” Witkoff mentioned, though neither Moscow nor Washington launched particulars of the discussions. Information company AP quoted Dmitriev as describing the assembly as “constructive”, however once more, with out elaboration on what was mentioned or whether or not any concrete proposals had been exchanged.The primary spherical of talks on the US peace plan, held in Abu Dhabi final Friday and Saturday, failed to supply a breakthrough. Whereas Washington has mentioned it’s near brokering a deal to finish what it has described as Europe’s deadliest battle since World Struggle II, elementary disagreements between Moscow and Kyiv stay unresolved.On the coronary heart of the impasse is the difficulty of territory. Russia presently occupies round 20 per cent of Ukraine and is pushing for full management of the jap Donetsk area as a part of any settlement. Moscow has warned it’ll search to take the area by drive if negotiations collapse.Ukraine, nonetheless, has repeatedly mentioned that ceding territory would solely embolden Russia and improve the chance of future invasions. Many Ukrainians contemplate the concept of surrendering land defended by their troopers for years to be unacceptable.Kyiv has insisted it won’t signal any deal that fails to supply credible ensures in opposition to renewed Russian aggression.The diplomatic manoeuvring has continued whilst preventing on the bottom reveals no signal of easing. In a single day and into Sunday, Russian assaults killed at the least two individuals and wounded a number of others throughout Ukraine, regional authorities mentioned.
