Moscow confirms the Abu Dhabi meeting, but first the US negotiators are in Brussels this week
Russia, Ukraine and the United States will talk again on 10 and 11 November, for the first time since February, as Russian attacks continue.
The Kremlin confirmed on Tuesday that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will meet in Abu Dhabi next Tuesday and Wednesday, The Moscow Times reports. US envoy Steve Witkoff had announced the talks on 10 and 11 November on Sunday. They are working-level discussions on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian measures and further steps towards peace. According to a US official speaking to Reuters, Witkoff and Jared Kushner will represent the United States, while Russia is again sending Vladimir Medinsky as chief negotiator. It is the first three-way round since February, when the war with Iran halted the process, writes RFE/RL.
This week US negotiators first meet France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the EU and NATO in Brussels to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and support for reconstruction, according to RFE/RL and Il Sole 24 Ore. President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Berlin on Tuesday that he hopes the talks will open the way to discussions at leaders' level. Putin continues to demand that Ukraine give up all of Donetsk before any ceasefire, which Kyiv refuses. Analysts interviewed by RFE/RL expect no breakthrough.
On the ground the violence continues. A Russian attack on a medical facility in Kharkiv injured 62 people on Tuesday, and grid operator Ukrenergo imposed emergency power cuts in Kyiv and the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Il Sole 24 Ore reports. The death toll from the attack on an aid point in Komyshuvakha rose to 29, with 48 missing. Ukrainian drones hit a refinery in Yaroslavl. From 9 to 22 November the new Multinational Force for Ukraine holds its first exercise in south-eastern Poland with about 2,800 troops from ten European countries, RTÉ reports.