AP
Davos
Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelenskyy said the future of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region will be a key focus as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States met in Abu Dhabi on Friday for talks to end Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion.
The three-way talks came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the settlement in Ukraine with US President Donald Trump’s envoys during marathon overnight talks. The Kremlin insisted that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but never fully captured.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, reiterated his openness
to establishing a free trade zone under Ukraine’s control in the country’s east. He said he discussed the proposal with
Trump in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday,
and told reporters: “I think it will be positive for our business.”
It’s unclear if Friday’s talks would see the Ukrainian and Russian sides meeting in the same room. Zelenskyy said that he would brief European partners on the outcome.
The Kremlin meeting, which lasted past 3 am on Friday came hours after Zelenskyy sharply criticised his European allies on Thursday for what he cast as their slow and fragmented response that he said has left Ukraine at the mercy of Putin amid an ongoing US push for a peace settlement.
