Wondering whether there shall be a World War Three is just a daily Friday morning at this point.
But today, Ukraine, Russia and the US are meeting to debate ending a war which Europe increasingly fears could spiral right into a larger conflict.
The surprise peace talks in Abu Dhabi are the primary time the three countries shall be in the identical room because the Russia-Ukraine war erupted in 2022.
Well, perhaps. Informal chats began this morning, nevertheless it is unclear whether Russian and Ukrainian representatives are in the identical room, Sky News reports.
We still don’t know a good few things about today’s negotiations, resembling when the official meetings will start or how they’ll play out.
But here’s what we do know to this point.
Who’s going today?
Top Donald Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are representing the US today.
Each could also be a tad jet-lagged, given they flew this morning from Moscow after an overnight meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking beforehand from Davos, Switzerland, Witkoff said he was ‘quite optimistic’ concerning the negotiations.
He told World Economic Forum attendees: ‘We’re at the tip now.’
A ‘working group on security issues’ from the Kremlin will attend the trilateral meeting, as Russia’s state news agency TASS puts it.
This features a team of defence officials led by Igor Kostyukov, an admiral who’s the director of Russia’s military intelligence agency, GRU.
Kyiv has sent its lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov and Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov.
What is going to the talks involve?
So much, we imagine. On the table is a revised 20-point peace plan drafted by Kyiv and Washington.
Kyiv has said before it agreed to about ‘90%’ of the proposed peace plan, with territory and the prevention of Russian aggression the remaining 10%.
Russia, meanwhile, has appeared largely unwilling to finish the war, with the US suggesting that Ukraine could have to make sacrifices to accomplish that.
Land is considered one of the most important gripes within the war, with Moscow demanding Kyiv surrender a 20% chunk of an eastern region of Ukraine called the Donbas.
Russia already occupies around 20% of the territory recognised under international law as a part of Ukraine, including Luhansk and Donetsk.
Kyiv, nevertheless, has refused to budge. Many Ukrainians feel there may be a ‘red line made in blood’ on Ukraine’s borders now, given how lots of the country’s soldiers have died defending them.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today: ‘Russia’s position is well-known. Ukraine and the Ukrainian Armed Forces must leave the territory of Donbas and withdraw from there.
‘That is a vital condition.’
US officials say today’s negotiations may even concentrate on ‘prosperity’, referring to Ukraine’s postwar economic recovery.
On the flip side, Russia is keen for its own post-war prosperity package, resembling thawing out Russia’s sanctioned assets.
Areas ‘affected by the war’, as Peskov described, must also be rebuilt. Whether that features only the patches Moscow controls is uncertain.
‘Military-to-military’ of the peace plan may even be hashed out, Witkoff said yesterday.
He added: ‘I believe we’ve got it right down to one issue, and we’ve discussed iterations of that issue, and meaning it’s solvable.’
‘So if each side want to resolve this, we’re going to get it solved.’
Security guarantees may even likely be on negotiators’ lips later. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has refused to put down his country’s guns unless he gets reassurances that Russia won’t launch one other invasion.
Will there be more talks?
Yes, in keeping with Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, who said today is the ‘first meeting of the trilateral working group on security issues’.
This captures how a number of regular Ukrainians are feeling right away, that these talks today will unlikely finish with the war ending.
Trump, nevertheless, is more on the optimistic side, though it’s partly because his administration is pushing Ukraine to simply accept the deal.
‘I imagine they’re at a degree now where they’ll come together and get a deal done, and in the event that they don’t, they’re silly,’ the US president said in Davos yesterday.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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