Ukraine is pushing to start trilateral talks with the U.S. and Russia a week earlier than planned, citing urgent winter pressures on its infrastructure.
Sources close to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s team told Ukrainska Pravda that Kyiv convinced U.S. officials to move the Abu Dhabi meeting from mid-November to around November 10, though Russia had not confirmed the new date as of October 25. A Zelensky aide said the urgency stems from the looming winter, when “every day matters” without electricity, water, or heating. Ukraine views securing Russia’s agreement to resume negotiations before spring as a minimum success, but does not expect a breakthrough in the first round.
Zelensky said in a television interview that U.S. warnings about Russian ballistic missile strikes and SpaceX’s Starshield satellite internet had been fully restored after disruptions earlier in October. He linked the changes to a meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo. The U.S. has pressed Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, which it argues drive up energy prices, but Zelensky said Kyiv would only comply if Moscow stops hitting Ukraine’s power grid or if Washington allows Starshield use over Russia to detect missile launches.
Zelensky also renewed his call for a leaders’ summit with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that territorial issues require top-level decisions. He ruled out accepting limits on Ukraine’s armed forces or enforced neutrality in any peace deal. Meanwhile, Ukraine has waited nearly a month for U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to approve missile supplies for Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, Zelensky stated on October 26.
Russia’s Kremlin has said the talks will not restrict hostilities, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirming that Moscow will continue its military offensive during negotiations. The first meeting is expected to be preliminary, with substantive discussions likely to require multiple rounds.
