US to Mediate Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11

The United States will mediate working-level negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, reviving a three-way diplomatic channel that has been stalled since February.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced the round on Monday, saying the discussions would focus on “post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps toward peace”. The Kremlin confirmed on Tuesday that Russia will take part, with presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky leading its delegation, Reuters reporting said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the dates in Berlin on Tuesday, alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and said he hoped the adviser-level talks could open a path to a meeting of leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting will be the first direct three-way round since February, before the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran interrupted earlier diplomacy.

What is on the agenda

Security guarantees for Ukraine after any settlement remain the central obstacle, alongside de-escalation measures and humanitarian steps such as prisoner exchanges. Kyiv has also put an “energy ceasefire” on the table — a halt to strikes on energy facilities — and a truce in the Black Sea to guarantee food exports, Zelenskyy told the joint press conference in Berlin.

Before Abu Dhabi, US negotiators are due in Brussels this week for talks with France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO on security guarantees, Europe’s post-war security architecture and reconstruction support. The European Commission is also hosting a meeting on Wednesday with the United States, Ukraine and key European allies.

A backdrop of continued fighting

The talks were announced against a grim backdrop. On Monday, Russian bombs struck a school being used to hand out aid in Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, killing at least 33 people according to Ukrainian officials, with dozens more feared trapped. Russia said its forces had targeted Ukrainian military units in the area.

A day later, Russia bombarded Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in waves, knocking out power in many regions. Zelenskyy said the attacks showed Moscow was intent on killing people rather than building on a brief humanitarian truce in the Russian-controlled town of Oleshky, agreed with the help of US First Lady Melania Trump.

Merz, speaking in Berlin, said Russia must show it is serious about a ceasefire and a peace agreement at the Abu Dhabi talks. The warning captures the scepticism in European capitals: a date on the calendar is not, by itself, evidence that Moscow is ready to compromise on territory or on the terms of any ceasefire.

Who will be at the table

The Abu Dhabi round is described as working-level or technical-level negotiations, rather than a leaders’ summit. That distinction matters: working-level talks are where broad agenda items are turned into verifiable limits — on strikes, on prisoner exchanges, on maritime corridors — or where they stall.

Witkoff is expected to lead the American delegation alongside Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Medinsky, a former culture minister who has led Russia’s side in previous rounds, will again head Moscow’s delegation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. A second Reuters republication confirms the same delegation details.

Peskov also made clear that European governments will not be at the table in Abu Dhabi, saying the format already agreed is trilateral: Russia and Ukraine, with the United States as mediator. Europe’s role runs through the Brussels consultations instead.

Why this round is different — and why it may not be

The resumption follows meetings Witkoff and Kushner held with both Zelenskyy and Putin in October, after Putin agreed to resume trilateral negotiations following his meeting with Witkoff in St Petersburg. It also follows a period in which Washington’s diplomatic bandwidth was consumed by the war with Iran.

Yet the underlying gaps remain wide. Moscow has demanded territory and security terms Kyiv has rejected, while Kyiv insists on a ceasefire along the current front line and on guarantees strong enough to deter a renewed attack. No published ceasefire text exists.

The talks also come as Washington recalibrates foreign policy, including the decision to end annual aid to Israel and Greenland’s approval of a US security deal.

For Ukraine, the immediate test is narrower than a final peace deal: whether negotiators can agree on concrete de-escalation steps, on energy and Black Sea truces, and on prisoner exchanges. If they cannot, the November dates will mark another resumption of process without substance.

What happens next

The sequence is now set: Brussels consultations and the European Commission meeting this week, then Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11. Melania Trump is also due to host Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House on Thursday, November 5, to mark the Oleshky ceasefire.

None of those steps guarantees a breakthrough in the war, now in its fifth year. But after months in which diplomacy was interrupted by war elsewhere, the return to a fixed date, a fixed venue and a named agenda gives the process something it has lacked since February: a deadline to work towards.