Overview
- President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the next direct trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi for Feb. 4–5 after a postponement from Sunday, with neither the Kremlin nor U.S. authorities formally confirming the new dates.
- The meetings would be the second round in this format, following an initial session held Jan. 23–24 in the United Arab Emirates.
- Positions remain far apart as Moscow seeks control over eastern Ukrainian territory, notably Donetsk/Donbas, and curbs on Ukraine’s military, while Kyiv rejects any territorial concessions.
- Parallel diplomacy continued with Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev meeting in Florida with U.S. intermediaries Steve Witkoff, Treasury official Scott Bessent, Jared Kushner and White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum, with no agenda details disclosed.
- Fighting persisted, including a reported Russian drone strike that killed at least 12 bus passengers in Dnipropetrovsk and an attack that injured six at a maternity clinic in Zaporizhzhia, as Russia claimed the capture of the village of Sukhetske in Donetsk.