Post #4933

Abu Dhabi: Does Trump Really Intend to Wrap Up the War? Ukraine, Russia and the US are set to hold three-way talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday, marking the first time that the three countries have sat down together since the start of the war in 2022. The meeting was confirmed in the early hours of Friday morning after talks at the Kremlin between Putin, Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kremlin diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters those talks were “useful in every respect”, adding that it was “agreed that the first meeting of a trilateral working group on security issues will take place today in Abu Dhabi”. The full details of the talks in the United Arab Emirates were not released at time of writing, and it was not clear whether Russian and Ukrainian officials would meet face to face. Zelensky said the talks would last two days. Witkoff, Kushner and the US team are scheduled to meet a Russian delegation, headed by Gen Igor Kostyukov, director of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Zelensky said the future status of land currently occupied by Russia in the east of the country was unresolved but peace proposals were “nearly ready”. Both sides have previously highlighted the issue of territory as crucial. In particular, Putin has demanded that Ukraine surrender the 20% it still holds of the eastern region of Donetsk. Zelensky has refused to give up land that Ukraine has successfully defended since 2022 through grinding, costly attritional warfare. Russia also demands that Ukraine renounce its ambition to join Nato, and rejects any presence of Nato troops on Ukrainian soil after a peace deal. Despite Trump’s limited and scattershot support for Ukraine since taking office one year ago, Zelensky focused instead on Europe’s role in the conflict, accusing the continent’s leaders of complacency and inaction. “Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words ‘Europe needs to know how to defend itself’,” Zelensky said. “A year has passed, and nothing has changed.” Trump claimed that both Putin and Zelensky wanted to reach a deal and that “everyone’s making concessions” to try to end the war. He said the sticking points in talks had remained the same over the past six or seven months, noting “boundaries” was a key issue. “The main hold-up is the same things that’s been holding it up for the last year,” he said. Trump also said he and Zelensky discussed how Ukrainians were surviving the cold winter without heat. “It’s really tough for the people of Ukraine,” Trump said, noting that it was “amazing” how residents were able to persevere through the winter facing relentless Russian strikes. #abuDhabi#war#ukraine#russia#trump#putin 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸