President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced on Thursday that the United States (U.S), Ukrainian, and Russian officials are scheduled to hold trilateral peace talks in the United Arab Emirates this week.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelenskyy revealed that the high-stakes meetings are expected to take place on Friday and Saturday, marking a significant escalation in efforts to end the nearly four-year-long conflict.
The announcement followed a “productive and substantive” meeting between Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the forum.
According to Zelenskyy, the U.S. delegation—led by special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner—is traveling to Moscow today for direct discussions with Vladimir Putin before proceeding to Abu Dhabi.
It was gathered that U.S, Ukrainian, and Russian officials are meeting together for the first time since the war started.
Meanwhile, neither the White House nor Moscow has confirmed a trilateral meeting yet.
“I think it will be the first trilateral meeting in the Emirates,” Zelenskyy said. “It will be two days of meetings in the Emirates. I hope that Emirates knows about it.”
Zelenskyy stressed that any final peace agreement would need to include security guarantees for Ukraine backed by American power.
“The U.K. and France are ready to actually commit their forces on the ground,” he said, “but the backstop of President Trump is needed. And again, no security guarantees work without the U.S.”
Speaking further, Zelenskyy acknowledged progress in the U.S.-led negotiations with both his country and, separately, with Russia, but said he believed the “last mile” of the road to peace would be “difficult.”
“Everybody has to be ready,” Zelenskyy said at an event in Davos on Thursday, hinting at the need for the separate talks between the U.S. and his country and the U.S. and Russia to eventually become unified.
“Nobody knows what is in his head,” he said, referring to Russia’s Putin.
“It’s better than not to have any dialogue,” he said of the ongoing process, but added that Ukraine was still under attack by Russia, and was responding.
Zelenskyy added on Thursday that disagreements over the fate of a massive portion of eastern Ukraine occupied by Russian forces were “not solved yet,” adding: “That’s what I think Steve Witkoff spoke about.”
“It’s all about the eastern part of our country. It’s all about the land,” Zelenskyy said. “This is the issue that we have not solved yet.”
Zelenskyy has long refused to accept — and he’s been backed in his stance by America’s European NATO allies — any formal transfer of occupied Ukrainian territory to Russia as part of a peace agreement.
He, along with his European backers, has argued that letting Russia take a neighboring nation’s land by force would set a dangerous precedent and invite future expansionist moves by the Kremlin.
