Historic: Zelenskyy, Trump set stage for first US-Russia-Ukraine talks in UAE – could this end the war?

Ukraine’s president says officials from Ukraine, Russia and the United States will meet in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday for a historic three‑way discussion on ending the nearly four‑year war.

Russia-Ukraine war: After meeting US President Donald Trump in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that representatives from Kyiv, Russia and the United States will sit together for trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), calling it the first such meeting between the three nations. These talks are scheduled to take place on Friday (January 23) and Saturday (January 24) in Abu Dhabi. Zelenskyy described this as an important step toward restoring peace after Russia’s invasion.

He said the trilateral meetings will follow efforts by US negotiators, including envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are expected to visit Moscow before heading to the UAE to begin detailed working‑level discussions on military and diplomatic matters.

In Davos, he described his talks with Trump as positive and said progress on key documents aimed at ending the war, including proposals for security guarantees and rebuilding Ukraine’s economy once hostilities end. Although he acknowledged that the central issue of territory still needs resolution, he said that his meeting with the US president had strengthened the prospects for negotiations in Abu Dhabi.

Trump also spoke to reporters after his meeting with Zelenskyy, stressing that his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin would be that the war must end and that a deal should be reached. He said the meeting with Zelenskyy was productive and indicated that discussions with Russia were moving forward, though he offered few specific details on a timeline or final outcomes.

A US delegation was already expected to travel to Moscow to meet with Russian authorities as part of this diplomatic push, indicating coordination between Washington and the Kremlin ahead of the Abu Dhabi talks.

Zelenskyy made clear that any success in the talks would require all sides to be ready for compromise. He further said that he hoped Moscow would engage constructively when the three‑way discussions begin. He also said documents meant to formalise a plan to end the war were nearing completion.

The announcement of trilateral negotiations comes during ongoing global concern about the human and economic toll of the conflict, which began with Russia’s full‑scale invasion in 2022. While there has been some international pressure for peace, the talks in Abu Dhabi represent an unprecedented direct engagement involving all three countries.

As Russian aerial and ground operations continue to strain Ukrainian infrastructure and energy supplies, the diplomatic effort highlights a growing urgency among world leaders to explore all possible avenues for ending the war in a way that addresses security, reconstruction and territorial questions raised during nearly four years of fighting.

The trilateral meeting in the UAE is being watched closely by capitals around the world, with diplomats and analysts hoping that this rare three‑way engagement could unlock a pathway toward peace that has been elusive despite repeated negotiations over the years.