Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he hoped upcoming U.S.-mediated talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi would result in a three-way meeting of leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking in Berlin on Tuesday alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Zelenskyy said the adviser-level talks, scheduled for November 10-11, were part of a broader diplomatic initiative aimed at ending the war.
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“We count on the fact that work in this format and our other diplomatic steps will pave the way for a trilateral format at the leadership level,” Zelensky told reporters.
Asked about the Abu Dhabi talks, Merz said it was “important that Russia finally and seriously engages in negotiations on a ceasefire and a subsequent peace agreement.”
“I don’t think this is happening so far,” the Chancellor said.
Zelensky’s visit to Berlin was not announced in advance for security reasons.
Upon landing, he said on X that diplomatic coordination, strengthening air defense and supporting Ukraine’s energy sector would be high on the agenda.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced on Monday the new round of negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the United States. He said the discussions would focus on “post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts and next steps towards peace.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that a Russian delegation would be present, led as before by former Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky, the official TASS news agency reported.
Europe seeks a place at the negotiating table
The build-up to next week’s talks follows one of the most notable displays of cooperation between the warring sides since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Last week, human rights mediators from Russia and Ukraine oversaw a local ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky to evacuate residents and deliver aid, as part of a mission brokered by US first lady Melania Trump.
Putin and Zelensky have had no direct contact since the invasion, and their representatives have held only a few rounds of negotiations.
Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin, said Zelensky and Merz clearly felt the Abu Dhabi meeting “is a step forward, and it has an element of positivity.”
He said a journalist had raised an important question, saying that “Europe and Ukraine are supposed to be in sync with each other”, before asking: “Why then won’t the Europeans be in Abu Dhabi in these negotiations?”
“There hasn’t been much of a response, but it’s clearly a problem, a thorny problem, perhaps, certainly for the Europeans,” Kane said.
European governments have insisted on being involved in the negotiations, but are unlikely to be present at the negotiating table in Abu Dhabi.
Instead, U.S. envoys are scheduled to meet with representatives of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, NATO and the European Union in Brussels this week to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and the postwar European security architecture.
Zelensky said Ukraine would need an additional 70 billion euros ($77.5 billion) from European countries next year.
Kane said successive German governments had pledged their full support to Ukraine, funding its efforts to repel Russian attacks and supplying it with arms and ammunition.
But he added that Merz knew that “the financial aspect of aid to Ukraine has become a real problem, given that the economy here and in other European countries is particularly threatened at the moment.”
“The cost of living in this country has become a serious issue for many voters,” Kane said.
He added that parties opposed to funding Ukraine, including the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the left-wing Die Linke, were “thriving in polls and elections.”
Several summits are planned before the end of the year
US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin may hold three-way talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, on November 18-19.
Around the same time, the Coalition of the Willing, a group of about 35 countries supporting Ukraine, is scheduled to meet in Berlin.
The Group of 20 (G20) summit will follow in Florida on December 13-15, where it remains unclear whether Putin will attend for the first time since the invasion.
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