Russia, Ukraine and the US are holding trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi as part of talks to end the ongoing war in Kiev. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the talks will take place on February 4 and 5.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the talks will take place on February 4 and 5. (AP/AFP)”Our negotiating team has just given a report. Dates for the next tripartite meeting have been set – February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi,” Zelensky wrote in X.
“Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are keen to ensure that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” he added.
The announcement of a new round of US-brokered talks comes days after US President Donald Trump announced a week-long ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine due to frigid temperatures in the region.
Ukraine is currently bracing itself for a cold snap, with temperatures expected to drop to -20 degrees Celsius, adding to the wartime woes of Kiev and other cities across Ukraine that have been plunged into cold and darkness due to blackouts.
However, the Kremlin later confirmed that a pause until February 1 was only requested to create “favorable conditions for peace talks”.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who agreed to end the attack on Ukraine. Ukraine, however, responded to the news by saying it would stop its attacks only if Moscow did the same.
Following Trump’s announcement and confirmation from Russia and Ukraine, both countries confirmed that they had stopped attacking each other’s energy infrastructure.
“In all our regions, there were actually no strikes at energy facilities from Thursday night to Friday,” Zelensky said in a nightly video address, adding that Kiev was prepared to refrain from strikes.
The latest attack was recorded in Ukraine on Thursday, just as Trump announced a ceasefire. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a ballistic missile and 111 drones, which damaged warehouses of American company Philip Morris in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Territorial disputes remain unresolved One of the key issues on the cards for Ukraine peace talks is the territorial dispute between the two countries. Russia has stood firm on its annexation of the Donbass region, which Ukraine says it will not relinquish.
The Donbas region refers to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. Currently, Russia occupies Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and partially occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson in the south and east of Ukraine after the 2022 invasion.
