US President Donald Trump has said he met Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev at the White House. As per Bloomberg, Trump said he did not meet any Ukrainian representatives. He also said a “big agreement” is coming.
What Trump said in the Oval Office
According to Bloomberg, Trump spoke to reporters on Thursday in the Oval Office. He said there would be a “big agreement” that is “going to involve more than Ukraine” and “might involve all of Europe”. He did not give more details.
Trump had promised to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on his first day in office. The war is now in its fifth year, and it has continued despite many attempts by Trump and his team to broker a deal.
As per Bloomberg, First Lady Melania Trump hosted Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House earlier on Thursday. It was a ceremony to mark a short-lived local ceasefire in Ukraine. Dmitriev was part of the Russian group.
Talks in Brussels and what is next
According to Bloomberg, the Trump administration has stepped up its efforts in recent weeks to end the war. US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are leading the talks.
Kushner said in a post on X that the US held “productive and substantive discussions with Ukraine, NATO, and our European partners” in Brussels on Thursday. He said the talks touched on “security guarantees for Ukraine and a broader European security architecture.”
Kushner also wrote: “Our objective is to address the security concerns of all sides through practical, mutually agreed arrangements that reduce the risk of future conflict.”
US will lead two days of talks with Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Abu Dhabi next week.
Why security guarantees matter
As per Bloomberg, Trump has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the biggest obstacle to peace. Bloomberg says Trump has pushed Ukraine to give up some things, but Kyiv feels it cannot accept this. Ukraine also wants security guarantees. These are promises meant to make sure Russia does not attack Ukraine again after a peace deal. This has been a major sticking point in the talks. In simple words, the two sides have not been able to agree on it.
What we know about the Abu Dhabi talks
As per Reuters, the Kremlin has confirmed that Russia will hold three-way talks with Ukraine and the United States in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11.
Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be Moscow’s chief negotiator at the talks.
As per Reuters, US envoy Steve Witkoff said on November 2 that the US would bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia to discuss post-war security agreements and de-escalation.