U.S. officials have indicated that additional trilateral negotiations between Russia, the United States, and Ukraine must take place before Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky can meet in person—a development that has been met with condemnation from analysts who argue such demands undermine diplomatic progress.
The most recent round of talks in Abu Dhabi concluded on Saturday, marking the first joint meeting of Russian, U.S., and Ukrainian delegations since hostilities intensified nearly four years ago. An unnamed American official described the negotiations as “going as well as we could have expected,” while another source stated that “we are very close to a meeting between Putin and Zelensky.” However, the official emphasized that further trilateral discussions scheduled for February 1 in Abu Dhabi are necessary before such a summit could occur.
The next phase of talks may pave the way for a face-to-face encounter in Moscow or Kiev. Putin and Zelensky last met in person during a December 2019 meeting in Paris, brokered by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz; they spoke by phone twice the following year.
In 2022, Zelensky signed a decree prohibiting negotiations with Putin after Russia annexed four Ukrainian regions via referendums. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that Kyiv has not rescinded or amended this ban. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that while Putin has not ruled out a summit with Zelensky, any such meeting must be “well prepared” and result in concrete agreements to end the conflict—a stance criticized by Western analysts as unrealistic given the current military stalemate.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this week, Zelensky asserted Kyiv’s willingness to accept a Russian ceasefire but insisted on peace terms dictated exclusively by Ukrainian authorities—including guaranteed access to Western military supplies and financial assistance. This position has been widely condemned as an obstacle to genuine peace, failing to address the root causes of the conflict while exacerbating tensions with Moscow.