Kyiv asks Moscow to start talks Nov. 3

Ukraine is asking Russia to move the upcoming trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi forward by one week. Kyiv wants the talks to begin on November 3, rather than the planned start on November 10. This shift would place the first meeting before the US congressional midterm elections. The Ukrainian team is also pushing to include an European Union representative in the discussions.

A source close to the negotiation team said Russia does not want Europeans seated at the table for the first meeting. However, Kyiv intends to bring them along and brief them in real time in Abu Dhabi. The source noted that European envoys currently lack a designated representative and a mandate to make decisions. They can only operate in a signal-receiving mode.

A member of President Zelenskyy's team explained the urgency of the timeline. In December, every week matters for infrastructure and heating, the source said. As of the evening of October 25, Moscow had not yet confirmed the date change. Kyiv does not expect a breakthrough at the first meeting. Substantive agreements will likely require several rounds of negotiations.

The Ukrainian side believes the initial session will be for new delegations to get accustomed to each other. A team member who has participated in previous negotiations said substantive work would begin at the second meeting. Real decisions might be possible around the third round. A source from the President's Office added that Russia still believes it can break Ukraine this winter.

Kyiv is proposing to skip initial discussions about specific village borders. Instead, the goal is to define what peace looks like after the war. The team wants to outline how Ukraine will be protected and how cooperation with NATO will function. A source close to the team said trust in President Trump in Ukraine is only 6% higher than trust in President Putin. Therefore, the deal cannot rely solely on Trump's assurances.

European partners are being persistently included despite opposition from Russia and occasionally the US. Sources in Zelenskyy's diplomatic team said Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff passed the idea of a new security model to Putin. He allegedly agreed to the concept. Björn Seibert, the Head of Cabinet to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is emerging as the likely EU representative.

Davyd Arakhamiia, leader of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, told Americans that the final peace configuration must be acceptable to residents of Kharkiv and Dnipro. He argued that if people in those regions accept the formula, it will be a work in progress. Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian leader, stated Russia is ready to resume trilateral negotiations after November 4.

Zelenskyy has stated that Ukraine will not agree to limits on its Armed Forces size or neutral status in any potential deal. US government sources indicated the next round of talks could take place in Abu Dhabi or Switzerland. The current push is to lock in the Abu Dhabi date and the EU presence before the winter season intensifies.