Kamal Ghorui
A second round of trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States on a US-drafted plan to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine will now take place on February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, announcing a delay from the earlier expected timeline.Zelenskyy did not explain why the talks, initially anticipated over the weekend, were postponed. “The dates for the next trilateral meetings have been set – February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi,” he said in a post on X. Neither the Kremlin nor the United States has officially confirmed the new dates so far.Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared for “substantive talks” and wanted an outcome that would lead to a “real and dignified end to the war”. He added that the update followed a report from Ukraine’s negotiating team, signalling that Kyiv remains engaged with the US-led diplomatic process despite the lack of progress in earlier discussions.The announcement came a day after one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top envoys, Kirill Dmitriev, held surprise talks with senior US officials in Florida without Ukraine’s participation.As per news agency AFP, those present on the US side included President Donald Trump’s peace envoy Steve Witkoff, treasury secretary Scott Bessent, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House senior adviser Josh Gruenbaum.“We are encouraged by this meeting that Russia is working toward securing peace in Ukraine,” Witkoff said, although neither Moscow nor Washington released details of the discussions. News agency AP quoted Dmitriev as describing the meeting as “constructive”, but again, without elaboration on what was discussed or whether any concrete proposals were exchanged.The first round of talks on the US peace plan, held in Abu Dhabi last Friday and Saturday, failed to produce a breakthrough. While Washington has said it is close to brokering a deal to end what it has described as Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, fundamental disagreements between Moscow and Kyiv remain unresolved.At the heart of the deadlock is the issue of territory. Russia currently occupies around 20 per cent of Ukraine and is pushing for full control of the eastern Donetsk region as part of any settlement. Moscow has warned it will seek to take the region by force if negotiations collapse.Ukraine, however, has repeatedly said that ceding territory would only embolden Russia and increase the risk of future invasions. Many Ukrainians consider the idea of surrendering land defended by their soldiers for years to be unacceptable.Kyiv has insisted it will not sign any deal that fails to provide credible guarantees against renewed Russian aggression.The diplomatic manoeuvring has continued even as fighting on the ground shows no sign of easing. Overnight and into Sunday, Russian attacks killed at least two people and wounded several others across Ukraine, regional authorities said.
