WASHINGTON — The United States will bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 to discuss ending Moscow's war against Ukraine, post-war security agreements and de-escalation, US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Monday, November 2, Reuters reported — the first fixed dates for a negotiating round that has been floated, confirmed and then publicly doubted over the past ten days.
Source: Reuters
"The United States will mediate working-level negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on November 10–11 in Abu Dhabi, advancing President Trump's mission to end the war," Witkoff wrote in a social media post announcing the round. He said the discussions will focus on "post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps toward peace."
Source: Rapporteur
This announcement sets exact dates for the Abu Dhabi round Awaaz Punjab first reported on October 23-24, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Kremlin said negotiators planned to meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. On October 28, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov called talk of an Abu Dhabi meeting premature and said the talks were still in a preparatory phase. Monday's announcement by the US envoy supersedes that uncertainty with fixed dates and a named US mediation team. Read the earlier report: Ukraine, US and Russia plan Abu Dhabi talks in November
Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the lead US negotiators, are expected to represent the United States in Abu Dhabi, a senior US official told Reuters. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to the new round of trilateral talks after meeting Witkoff in St Petersburg two weeks ago, in the latest US push to stop Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters
Brussels meetings come first
Before Abu Dhabi, American negotiators will meet at working level this week in Brussels with representatives from France, Germany, Britain, the European Union and NATO, the US official told Reuters. Those discussions will cover Ukraine's security guarantees, Europe's future security framework, and economic support for Ukraine's reconstruction — the same post-war questions the Abu Dhabi agenda lists.
Source: Reuters
The last US-mediated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia took place in February, before the United States and Israel launched the war against Iran that has since dominated Washington's diplomacy. Zelenskyy had said last week that he hoped a trilateral meeting of peace negotiators would take place in Abu Dhabi between November 6 and 10; the dates Witkoff announced on Monday, November 10-11, sit immediately after that hoped-for window.
Source: Reuters
The announcement landed on the same day the death toll from a Russian bombing of a humanitarian aid centre in Komyshuvakha rose to 26 — a reminder of the fighting the Abu Dhabi round is meant to stop. Read: Komyshuvakha toll rises to 26
What happens next
No ceasefire has been agreed, and neither Kyiv nor Moscow has publicly set out what it would accept in Abu Dhabi. What is now fixed is the calendar: working-level meetings in Brussels this week, then the US-mediated round in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11. Whether the round produces a leaders' meeting — the step Zelenskyy said in October he hoped would follow the technical talks — remains unannounced.