Ukrainian, Russian and U.S. Officials to Meet in Abu Dhabi for Peace Talks

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have rarely met directly in the past, instead relying on Americans to mediate, and it was unclear how the talks would play out.A Ukrainian soldier from the 63rd Mechanized Brigade firing a howitzer at a Russian position in eastern Ukraine this month.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York TimesJan. 23, 2026, 5:49 a.m. ETUkrainian, Russian and American negotiators were expected to hold meetings on Friday in the United Arab Emirates, the latest in a flurry of recent diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine as the fourth anniversary since Russia’s full-scale invasion approaches.The Russian state news agency Tass reported that a “working group on security issues” was meeting in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, on Friday, confirming an earlier statement by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Russia’s delegation was to be led by Igor Kostyukov, the head of Russia’s military intelligence, Tass reported.ImagePresident Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.Credit...Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIt was not immediately clear when the meetings would start nor how they would play out. Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have rarely met directly in past rounds of talks, instead relying on the United States as a mediator. Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, were also expected to be in Abu Dhabi, but it was not clear if they would be directly involved in the trilateral talks.On the table is a revised 20-point peace plan drawn up by Ukraine and the United States, covering a range of issues such as potential territorial arrangements and security guarantees that Kyiv wants to prevent future Russian aggression, as well as plans to rebuild the war-ravaged nation. But the Ukrainian and Russian authorities are still at odds over territory, with Russia demanding a big chunk in an eastern region known as the Donbas, and on security guarantees.Mr. Witkoff said on Thursday that the meetings in Abu Dhabi would be working groups handling specific components of the peace plan, including what he called “military-to-military” aspects and “prosperity,” or postwar economic recovery.“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 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, without elaborating. “So if both sides want to solve this, we’re going to get it solved.”Asked later by a reporter at Davos about Mr. Witkoff’s comment, Mr. Zelensky said that Russia’s demand to control all of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, even areas now held by the Ukrainian Army, remained unresolved.Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner are expected in Abu Dhabi after meeting late on Thursday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Tass said that they would be there for a meeting with Russian officials on economic issues.Yuri Ushakov, the foreign policy adviser to Mr. Putin, told reporters after the four-hour meeting with Mr. Putin that it had been “useful in all aspects, both for us and the United States,” according to Tass.Mr. Ushakov said that Russia was interested in solving the war “through political and diplomatic means” but that until then it would continue to push on the battlefield “where the Russian Armed Forces hold the strategic initiative,” Tass reported. Ukrainian officials have characterized the fighting as at a near stalemate, with Mr. Zelensky saying on Thursday that both armies were exhausted after four years of war.The talks on Friday also come after a meeting in Davos between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump.Mr. Zelensky had said this week that he would attend the gathering in Switzerland only if “real results for Ukraine” were on the table, fueling expectations of a possible breakthrough in the peace talks.Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump said after meeting that their talks had been “good,” and Mr. Zelensky said that they had reached an agreement on U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine after the war. But the leaders offered no details on what these guarantees would entail.“I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done,” Mr. Trump said in Davos on Wednesday, referring to the two sides in the Russia-Ukraine peace talks. “And if they don’t, they’re stupid. I don’t want to insult anyone, but you got to get this deal done.”Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine.Aurelien Breeden is a reporter for The Times in Paris, covering news from France.SKIP