Russia has confirmed that delegations from Moscow, Washington and Kiev will hold trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, on November 10 and 11, with United States acting as mediator.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced the meetings on November 3 and said the Russian delegation will be led by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky.
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Peskov added that Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities continue. Moscow, for its part, keeps hitting Ukrainian infrastructure with the stated goal of reducing Kiev’s ability to strike targets inside Russia. Neither capital has announced a pause in military operations ahead of the talks.
Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, had earlier signaled that Russia and Ukraine would hold talks with his country’s mediation. He said his team is taking part in President Donald Trump’s mission to end the conflict.
Security Agenda
The agenda will focus on post-conflict security arrangements, de-escalation measures, humanitarian work and steps toward a lasting peace. The list moves beyond the battlefield and toward the question of how any settlement would be secured and sustained once the shooting stops.
Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, affirmed that his team will meet this week in Brussels with officials from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO. Those discussions will cover the European security architecture and economic opportunities to support Ukraine’s reconstruction. The Brussels meetings would come days before the Abu Dhabi session.
Melania Trump’s Meeting
Separately, the White House confirmed that First Lady Melania Trump will receive Russian and Ukrainian representatives on November 5. The encounter will include remarks on the temporary ceasefire previously arranged in Oleshky and the adjacent Kherson region. That truce allowed joint humanitarian missions by the human rights commissioners of both countries to evacuate residents and distribute aid.
The release did not identify the delegates or detail the subjects they would address. The Oleshky arrangement stands as a rare example of coordinated action between two governments still at war, focused on evacuations and the delivery of assistance.
The conflict dates to late February 2022, when Russia launched what Moscow calls a special military operation in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin framed the offensive as protection for the people of Donbass from what he called “a genocide by the Kiev regime” and as a response to the national security risks posed by NATO’s eastward expansion.
The diplomatic sequence now runs through November. The White House reception comes first, on November 5, followed by the trilateral session in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11. The Abu Dhabi round would mark another step in a diplomatic process that has moved in parallel with continued hostilities.
Author: Laura V. Mor
Source: Agencies
