US proposes preparatory Ukraine-US-Russia talks in the UAE
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the US side has offered to prepare trilateral talks with Russia at a technical level in the United Arab Emirates, though no date has yet been set.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, responding to journalists' questions in a media chat, said the American side has proposed preparing a trilateral Ukraine-US-Russia meeting and holding it at a technical level. According to him, the United States named the United Arab Emirates as the proposed venue, while Washington has not yet offered a specific date.
Background
In early September, the Kremlin stated it did not rule out resuming peace talks in a trilateral format between Russia, Ukraine and the US, while noting it was still too early to discuss the location and exact timing.
On September 23, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said there were currently no preconditions for moving toward a "peace track" in talks to end the war, but again repeated that President Zelensky could come to negotiate in Moscow.
That same day, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, a representative of Russian media repeatedly shouted at Zelensky asking when he would come to Moscow. According to Deutsche Welle's Ukrainian service, the Ukrainian president responded that he would rather go there "by rocket," adding an obscenity.
