The First Round Of Talks Between Ukraine, Russia And The United States Ended In The UAE
- 23.01.2026, 22:56
Details have come to light.
A round of the first trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States since the start of the war has ended in Abu Dhabi (UAE). They will continue on January 24, "Suspilne" reported.
A senior White House official told the publication that today's trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi between the United States, Ukraine and Russia was productive.
The trilateral talks began on January 23, the Associated Press reported. They kicked off hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a settlement of the war in Ukraine with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys in Moscow. After them, the Kremlin said that for a peace deal to be reached, Kiev must withdraw troops from the Donbass territories, which Russia illegally occupied but never fully controlled.
The Russian delegation at the trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi consists only of representatives of the country's Defense Ministry, headed by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Igor Kostyukov. The Ukrainian side is represented by the secretary of the country's National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, the head of the Ukrainian president's office Kyryl Budanov, the first deputy head of the office Sergey Kislitsa, the head of the Servant of the People party faction David Arahamiya and the chief of the AFU General Staff, Lieutenant General Andrei Gnatov.
Wladimir Putin's special representative, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev, has also traveled to the UAE. He is to participate in the work of the Russian-American group on economic issues together with Whitkoff, the BBC Russian Service writes.
The US is represented in Abu Dhabi by the main negotiators of recent months: special presidential envoy Steve Whitkoff and Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Kremlin reported that they were joined by Josh Grunbaum, commissioner of the U.S. General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service.
The main topic of the trilateral talks, as Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on January 23, will be the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. In his evening video message, the Ukrainian leader noted that members of the delegation report to him from the Emirates almost every hour.
"They talk about the parameters for ending the war. Now they should have at least part of the answers from Russia, and the main thing is that Russia should be ready to end this war, which it started. Ukrainian positions are clear. I have defined a framework for dialog for our delegation. <�...> It is too early to draw conclusions about the content of the talks today - we will see how the conversation will go tomorrow and what the results will be," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.