Territory key issue for Ukraine, Russia, U.S.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the future of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region will be a key focus as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States meet in Abu Dhabi for talks to end Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion.

- BY KAMILA HRABCHUCK AND KOSTYA MANENKOV

ALEXANDER KAZAKOV Pool Photo

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin, right, visits the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Friday.

The United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Ministry said the talks began Friday and are scheduled to continue over two days “as part of ongoing efforts to promote dialogue and identify political solutions to the crisis.”

The White House described the talks as productive and said conversations would continue on Saturday.

The three-way talks come hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the settlement in Ukraine with President Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during marathon overnight talks. The Kremlin insisted that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but never fully captured.

Zelensky said after meeting with Trump that although the future status of land in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia remains unresolved, the peace proposals are “nearly ready.”

He also reiterated his openness to establishing a free-trade zone under Ukraine’s control in the country’s east, adding that he discussed the proposal with Trump in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday: “I think it will be positive for our business,” Zelensky told reporters.

Friday is the first known time that officials from the Trump administration simultaneously met with negotiators from Ukraine and Russia. Though it’s unclear how the talks will unfold and many obstacles to peace remain, some see it as a sign that the parties are making headway in closing a deal.

Speaking in his evening address to the nation late Friday, Zelensky said the Ukrainian delegation attending the talks reported to him “almost every hour.”