Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. Return to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for Their First Trilateral Talks Since February
Working-level delegations from Kyiv, Moscow and Washington meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, with post-war security arrangements, de-escalation and humanitarian measures on the American-announced agenda — and Europe pressing for a seat it has not been promised.
WASHINGTON — Russia, Ukraine and the United States return to the negotiating table in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 10 and 11, in the first U.S.-mediated trilateral round since February, according to Reuters reporting. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff announced the round on November 2, saying the discussions would cover post-war security agreements, de-escalation, humanitarian measures and ending the war.
Moscow is sending a heavier team than in the earlier rounds this year. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency on November 7 that presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky will again lead the Russian delegation, joined by Deputy Foreign Ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov and General Staff officer Yury Zhigarlovsky. Ryabkov, the Kremlin's arms-control diplomat, is part of the negotiating group for the first time — a detail analysts read as a sign the talks reach beyond the battlefield to the wider security order.
On the other sides of the table, Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to represent Washington, and Ukraine's delegation is reported to be led by Rustem Umerov, head of its Foreign Intelligence Service. Earlier U.S.-mediated rounds met in Abu Dhabi in January and February and in Geneva in February, and stalled without a durable ceasefire — the history that hangs over this week's sessions.
Europe, meanwhile, is asking to be in the room. Foreign ministers are meeting in Paris on Monday and Tuesday ahead of the talks, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Sunday that Europeans would be well represented at the Abu Dhabi discussions, without specifying who would attend or in what capacity, according to the European reporting read by this desk. Whether that presence turns into a place at the table is one of the questions Tuesday will answer.
