Trilateral Russia‑Ukraine‑U.S. Talks Planned for November

Overview

• Negotiators announced on Sunday that they agreed to hold a technical-level meeting in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November to prepare for a possible leaders' meeting later in the month.
• The Kremlin told reporters that Russia is ready to resume trilateral talks only after Russia's National Unity Day on November 4 and it has urged that European states be included in the process.
• U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff stepped up shuttle diplomacy this week with stops in Oslo and a meeting with President Putin in St. Petersburg to secure the scheduling agreements.
• Kremlin advisers said preparatory work has begun for potential leader-level contacts on the margins of the APEC summit on November 18–19 but they stressed a separate Putin–Trump Shenzhen meeting has not been agreed.
• Russian spokesmen said military operations will continue during talks though Moscow may accept limited humanitarian truces, a stance that keeps any cease-fire fragile and raises immediate risks for civilians.