Moscow Prepares to Resume Ukraine Talks After November 4 in Abu Dhabi
Key Facts
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said on October 25 that Moscow was ready to resume trilateral talks with Ukraine and the United States after Russia’s National Unity Day on November 4, setting a new window for reviving the diplomatic track. His remarks followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement earlier in the month that Moscow was ready “in principle” to resume talks around November 10. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on October 23 that the technical meeting was planned in Abu Dhabi during the first half of November, and that its timing depended on Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks would be trilateral between Russia, the United States and Ukraine, while leaving open the possibility of European participation. None of the statements announced a specific meeting date, with the two sides setting similar time windows for resuming negotiations.
Ushakov’s statement on October 21 said Putin had told U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff that Moscow was ready to resume talks “around November 10,” and that their main subject would be building a security system for Russia and Ukraine. Four days later, Ushakov tied Russia’s readiness to the end of the November 4 holiday, without announcing a final date or clarifying whether the earlier approximate timing had changed. In Kyiv, Zelenskyy placed the technical meeting in the first half of November and said his country was ready to meet on any day, while making the meeting contingent on Moscow’s position. Peskov confirmed Abu Dhabi as the venue for the planned November talks and described the format as trilateral. He added that European participation could not be ruled out in advance, leaving the final size of the delegation open despite the identification of the core parties.
Zelenskyy wants the technical talks to go beyond preparing for another round and pave the way for a meeting between leaders, saying the main issues “can only be resolved at the highest level.” The agenda he outlined includes ending the war, bringing peace closer and preparing for a leaders’ meeting, but the statements did not say that a meeting at that level had been agreed. Ushakov, meanwhile, described the first trilateral round after the pause in talks as an initial trial and said it was unrealistic to expect major results from it. The contrast highlights Kyiv’s desire to move substantive issues up to leaders and Moscow’s limited expectations for what the first round could achieve. It also makes the technical meeting, if held, a preliminary step in a process whose next stages remain unclear.
The new effort follows three rounds of negotiations among representatives of the three countries in early 2026, according to the Associated Press. The representatives met twice in Abu Dhabi, in January and February, then held another round in Geneva during February. Those talks yielded little progress beyond prisoner-of-war exchanges, while Moscow and Kyiv held to their core demands. The new round would be the fourth sponsored by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, following the latest round in Geneva. The record of previous rounds means that resuming meetings would reopen the negotiating channel, but follows talks whose announced results did not go beyond prisoner exchanges.
Territory and security guarantees remain at the heart of the dispute between the two sides. Moscow is demanding full control of four Ukrainian regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Russia occupies about 20% of Ukraine but has not taken full control of all the territory in the regions it claims, according to the Associated Press. Kyiv is insisting on strong security guarantees to prevent another invasion, and Zelenskyy said any peace deal would need those guarantees and funding for the Ukrainian army for 10 years. These demands put territorial control, the shape of security arrangements and funding at the center of any potential settlement. Statements about the technical meeting do not point to a resolution of these disputes, which have persisted as both sides hold to their core demands.
Putin said Moscow was ready to negotiate and seek solutions to the complex situation, but added that the goals of the “special military operation” would be achieved if the other side chose a different path. Within hours of his announcement that he agreed “in principle” to resume talks, Russia launched a missile and drone attack on Kyiv, according to the Associated Press. The developments come as diplomatic statements coincide with continuing military operations, while the core issues in a settlement remain disputed. The next step is to set a date for the Abu Dhabi technical meeting in November, with possible European participation still undecided. If the meeting takes place, it will show whether it can pave the way for the leaders’ meeting Zelenskyy has called for, while Ushakov expects no major results from the first round.