Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are set to resume negotiations in Abu Dhabi next week after two days of what officials described as “constructive” peace talks, even as the war shows no signs of easing.
On January 23-24, "the United States coordinated a trilateral meeting alongside Ukraine and Russia, graciously hosted by the United Arab Emirates," White House envoy Steve Witkoff wrote on X.
"Talks were very constructive, and plans were made to continue conversations next week in Abu Dhabi. President [Donald] Trump and his entire team are dedicated to bringing peace to this war," he added.
While Witkoff did not specify an exact schedule for the resumption of talks, Axios reported, citing an unnamed US official, that they are now expected to resume on February 1.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was briefed by his team on the talks and also labeled the negotiations as constructive, although no details of the sessions were disclosed.
The "military personnel involved in the negotiations have created a list of topics for a possible new meeting," Zelenskyy said.
The Axios report added that progress in a subsequent meeting could lead to talks in Moscow or Kyiv -- something that has not occurred since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
According to Axios, the US official said that he believed such "meetings need to happen before a meeting between the leaders," which he said might be not far away, if negotiations continue to follow "the current path."
Ahead of the negotiations in the UAE, Kremlin aides said Russian President Vladimir Putin was satisfied with nearly four hours of talks held overnight with Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and other US representatives.
However, there are no signs of the war slowing down on the ground. Nor are there any signs that the Kremlin is backing down from its long-held maximalist demands.
Russia has been attempting to push westward through eastern Ukraine to gain as much ground as possible amid peace negotiations. Much of its gains have been in the Donetsk region, although it has kept the pressure on in the Kharkiv region as well.
At least 66 fights occurred across the Ukraine's front lines on January 25 alone, the country's armed forces reported on January 25.
On January 23, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Russia's longstanding demand that Ukrainian forces leave the portion of the Donbas they still hold. The Donbas is a wide swath of territory in eastern Ukraine; Russia controls around 90 percent of it.
Zelenskyy, who met with Trump in Switzerland on January 22, has long rejected the suggestion of ceding territory to Russia but told reporters that the UAE talks were expected to include the issue of territory in the Donbas.
Besides, massive Russian drone and missile strikes have been severely damaging heating and electricity infrastructure across Ukraine, making 2025-2026 winter unbearable for millions of residents suffering at the hands of unprecedented energy blackouts.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces said that Russia had launched more than 100 drones and two missiles at Ukraine in the latest nighttime attack on January 25.
On the same day, Zelenskyy traveled to Lithuania to meet President Gitanas Nauseda and Polish President Karol Nawrocki to seek military and humanitarian aid as well as diplomatic support for ongoing peace efforts.
The three leaders have been taking part in commemorations marking the 1863–64 uprising against imperial Russian rule, an event widely seen as a pivotal moment of resistance to Moscow's westward expansion.
"We have a common enemy. This has endured for more than four years of full-scale war, more than years of hybrid warfare, more than the reigns of both Soviet Moscow and imperial Petersburg," Zelenskyy told the meeting.
Later in the day, he added that a document outlining US security guarantees for Ukraine is ready, and Kyiv is awaiting confirmation of the time and place for its signing.
"For us, security guarantees are first and foremost guarantees of security from the United States," Zelenskyy said at the news conference in Vilnius.
Western security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace deal --particularly Russia's opposition to the deployment of NATO troops on Ukrainian soil -- have been a critical point of dispute in all efforts to negotiate an end to the largest conflict on the continent since World War II.
