The United States and Russia are reportedly holding meetings in Abu Dhabi this week in an effort to finalize a peace deal to end the Kremlin’s war with Ukraine, two U.S. officials confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday (November 25).
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll initially met with the Russian delegation on Monday (November 24) and the talks were expected to continue on Tuesday, the officials said.
“The talks are going well and we remain optimistic,” said Lt. Col. Jeff Tolbert, an Army spokesman, said in a statement obtained by NBC News.
“Secretary Driscoll is closely synchronized with the White House and the U.S. interagency as these talks progress,” he added.
A Ukrainian delegation is also reported to be in Abu Dhabi and in contact with Driscoll. Kyiv publicly stated that it hoped to finalize the deal with President Donald Trump after acknowledging that it had secured changes to the plan, which was initially viewed as granting Russia its core demands at the expense of Ukraine and its allies.
The U.S. and Ukraine were reportedly set for “intensive work” on the proposed 28-point peace plan with Russia on Monday. The two sides were reportedly working on an “updated and refined peace framework” during meetings in Geneva, officials from both countries confirmed in a joint statement obtained by NBC News, which acknowledged “meaningful progress” from the “highly productive” discussions, though no specific details were released.
Trump also gave his take on the negotiations in a post shared on his Truth Social account early Monday morning, days after publicly setting a deadline of Thursday (November 27) for the deal to get done.
“Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening,” he wrote.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that he discussed the proposal with leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Germany and that he “value the efforts of the United States, President Trump, and his team aimed at ending this war” via CBS News.
“Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult choice: Either loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner. Either a difficult 28 points, or an extremely difficult winter,” Zelenskyy said in a separate video shared on social media Friday (November 21).
Zelenskyy also reportedly discussed the proposal with Vice President JD Vance on Friday, a Ukrainian official confirmed to CBS News.
The 28-point U.S. plan reportedly includes four general buckets: peace in Ukraine, security guarantees, security in Europe and future U.S. relations with both Russia and Ukraine, the sources confirmed, though it’s unclear how it will approach more contentious issues such as territorial control in eastern Ukraine where the Kremlin has gained some control but far less than it’s demanded previously, Axios had previously reported.
“The plan focuses on giving both sides security guarantees to secure a lasting peace,” the senior official said via NBC News. “It includes things Ukraine wants and needs to have a durable peace.”
The senior official wouldn’t outline details of the proposed plan as negotiations on some key parts are ongoing. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were all reported to have had some involvement in drafting the plan, according to the official.
Witkoff was previously reported to have been working closely with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev on negotiations and was expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey on Wednesday (November 19), but his trip was postponed. Witkoff had, however, reportedly discussed the drafted plans with Zelenskyy’s national security adviser, Rustem Umerov, during a meeting in Miami that took place earlier this week, a Ukrainian official confirmed to Axios.
“We know the Americans are working on something,” the official said.
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