Russia-Ukraine talks planned for November in UAE: Kremlin

Moscow has confirmed that trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States have been scheduled for November.

The planned negotiations, aimed at ending Russia’s war on its neighbour, will be held in the United Arab Emirates, the Kremlin’s spokesperson said on Friday.

US-brokered talks were held earlier this year, but made little progress. The meetings then lapsed as the Trump administration was focused on its war on Iran.

However, Russia signalled its willingness to reengage after US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to meet with President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg this week.

The next round of talks is now “planned for the first half of November in Abu Dhabi” and “will take place in a trilateral format,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

After Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Witkoff on Tuesday, Kyiv had said it hoped for talks “as soon as possible”.

However, hopes of making significant progress are slim. Previous talks have struggled to produce results, with Russia maintaining a list of hardline demands, including that Ukraine hands over large parts of its territory and agrees not to join NATO.

In a televised interview aired late on Thursday, Putin said that any trilateral talks should focus on the long-term security arrangements for a final peace deal, not a “short” truce.

Confirmation of the November talks comes amid growing strain on relations between Kyiv and members of the US government, and signs of improving ties between United States President Donald Trump and Putin.

Trump, whose war on Iran has provoked rising energy prices that have dented his political support ahead of midterm elections, has criticised Ukraine’s targeting of Russian energy infrastructure.

Meanwhile, he eased sanctions on Moscow and made a deal to buy 300,000 tonnes of Russian diesel. Moscow announced on Friday that the first shipment was on its way to New York.

European leaders have said that the deal made peace between Ukraine and Russia harder to achieve by giving Russia “hope”.

Ukrainian forces have since reported problems regarding access to satellite technology from Starlink and crucial intelligence.

Later on Friday, Russia’s Defence Ministry announced that Moscow and Kyiv had each exchanged 270 ⁠⁠prisoners of war.

The ministry was quoted by state media ‌‌as saying that the freed Russian servicemen were in Belarus and would be transported to Russia once they had ⁠⁠received psychological and ⁠⁠medical assistance.

Prisoner swaps are rare ground on which Russia and Ukraine have maintained contact throughout the conflict, with thousands exchanged since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine ⁠⁠in February 2022.