Ukraine, Russia and US to hold first trilateral talks since start of war in UAE on Friday

The first three-way meeting between Ukraine, Russia and the United States is to be held in the United Arab Emirates on Friday and Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters following his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Davos on Thursday.

After the hour-long meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Trump appeared somewhat upbeat, describing the talks as good, according to CNN, but adding there was still a lot more to be done before the war could end. Zelensky said that there could be no security guarantees without American involvement.

In his speech to the forum later on Thursday, Zelensky said that Ukrainian officials would be speaking with representatives from the US team ahead of Friday’s swiftly convened meeting, and though he didn’t say who would represent Ukraine at the talks, he did say that he hoped the Russians would be ready to compromise.

Zelensky also expressed his regret that former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro had been arrested while Vladimir Putin had not, while also accusing European leaders of giving in to pressure from the Russian leader not to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s war effort.

Zelensky suggested European countries could also seize Russian oil as another potential source of income, on the day when France’s President Emmanuel Macron announced the seizure by the French Navy of an oil tanker suspected of being part of Russia’s shadow fleet.