DAVOS, Switzerland: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that the first tripartite meeting involving Ukraine, the United States, and Russia is scheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates on Friday and Saturday, marking a rare moment of direct three-way engagement since the war began.
Speaking on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelenskyy said US representatives delayed travel plans until the conclusion of his meeting with Donald Trump.
“Now they are heading to Moscow, and my team will talk to the US representatives. This will be the first tripartite meeting in the Emirates, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he hoped the UAE had been informed in advance. “The Americans generally love surprising everyone, but this meeting should take place.”
Zelenskyy described his talks with Trump as “good” and said draft documents related to ending the war were close to completion, while stressing that concessions would need to come from Moscow as well. “It is not only the Ukrainian side that should be ready for compromises,” he said.
He offered few details on the format or level of representation, cautioning that the meeting could still face delays. “Perhaps the meeting won’t happen right away, perhaps we’ll have to wait. But tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, we have scheduled tripartite meetings. This is better than the complete lack of dialogue,” he added.
Earlier on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to meet US representatives later in the day. A White House official separately confirmed to Anadolu, speaking on condition of anonymity, that talks would be held in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said he and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, would travel to Moscow on Thursday evening before proceeding directly to Abu Dhabi, where working-group meetings are planned.
US Vice President JD Vance welcomed the announcement but urged caution over expectations of a rapid peace deal. Speaking to reporters in Ohio, Vance said the talks themselves represented progress. “The fact that they’re sitting down and talking is progress, and I think we’ve made a lot of progress here,” he said.
Vance acknowledged frustrations from past negotiations and avoided predicting an imminent breakthrough. “I’ve been disappointed in the past where I thought we were close to a peace deal, so I’m not going to predict that anything is going to happen in the next couple of weeks,” he said, adding that the administration’s objective remained ending the fighting.
