Ukraine war briefing: US to mediate talks with Kyiv and Moscow in Abu Dhabi next week, says Witkoff

De-escalation, post-war security and humanitarian efforts on the agenda of trilateral talks. What we know on day 1,714 The US will bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi next week for talks on ending Moscow’s war against Ukraine, US envoy Steve Witkoff has said. In a social media post, Witkoff said the discussions will cover “post-war security agreements, de-escalation, humanitarian measures, and ending the war”.

Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to represent the US at the talks, Reuters quoted a senior US official as saying. Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed to a new round of trilateral talks after meeting Witkoff in St Petersburg two weeks ago.

Witkoff also said in his post that US negotiators would meet this week in Brussels with representatives from the UK, France, Germany, the EU and Nato to discuss “security guarantees for Ukraine, Europe’s post-war security architecture and economic opportunities to support Ukraine’s reconstruction”. Ukraine and Russia remain far apart on the terms of any possible peace deal. The last US-mediated trilateral peace talks took place in February before the US and Israel launched a war against Iran.

Russian forces bombed a school used as an aid distribution point in a village in Ukraine’s south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region on Monday, killing 26 people, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the country’s emergency services said. “The Russians struck first just as people were arriving – a few...

Read the original report at The Guardian.