A new round of trilateral talks to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been postponed until mid-week by mutual agreement, TASS reported.
“The dates for the new round in mid-week have been set by mutual agreement“, the state agency source said.
Earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the trilateral meeting would be held on February 4-5 in Abu Dhabi.
Four days earlier, on January 28, the Kremlin announced planned talks for February 1. “This is preliminary, but for now we are working from this“, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio specified, the February 1 meeting was planned as a bilateral one between Moscow and Kiev, with the main topic being the territorial issue.
Zelensky did not specify whether setting the date for the trilateral talks meant postponing the February 1 meeting, which was planned as a bilateral one. He had previously suggested that the date of the meeting could be postponed due to the deterioration of relations between the United States and Iran.
The previous round of trilateral talks was held on January 23-24 in Abu Dhabi. The main topic was the territorial issue, and there were no signs of compromise, Reuters reported. Zelensky said that direct dialogue at the level of heads of state is needed to resolve this issue.
The New York Times noted that the second round of trilateral talks was postponed after the visit of Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president's special representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, to the United States on January 31.
Dmitriev met with US special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and Federal Procurement Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum.
Witkoff called the talks constructive. "We were encouraged by this meeting; it shows that Russia is working to ensure peace in Ukraine," he said.
Dmitriev also described the meeting as constructive. He spoke of the "productive" discussions within the framework of the US-Russia Economic Working Group. During the first round of talks in Abu Dhabi, this group discussed financing the reconstruction of war-torn territories using frozen Russian assets in the United States.