Wondering whether there will be a World War Three is just a regular Friday morning at this point.
But today, Ukraine, Russia and the US are meeting to discuss ending a war which Europe increasingly fears could spiral into a larger conflict.
The surprise peace talks in Abu Dhabi are the first time the three countries will be in the same room since the Russia-Ukraine war erupted in 2022.
Well, maybe. Informal chats began this morning, but it is unclear whether Russian and Ukrainian representatives are in the same room, Sky News reports.
We still don’t know a fair few things about today’s negotiations, such as when the official meetings will start or how they will play out.
But here’s what we do know so far.
Who’s going today?
Top Donald Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are representing the US today.
Both may 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’ about the negotiations.
He told World Economic Forum attendees: ‘We are at the end 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 includes a team of defence officials led by Igor Kostyukov, an admiral who is 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 will the talks involve?
A lot, 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 end the war, with the US suggesting that Ukraine may have to make sacrifices to do so.
Land is one of the biggest gripes in the war, with Moscow demanding Kyiv give up 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 part of Ukraine, including Luhansk and Donetsk.
Kyiv, however, has refused to budge. Many Ukrainians feel there is a ‘red line made in blood’ on Ukraine’s borders now, given how many 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.
‘This is a very important condition.’
US officials say today’s negotiations will also focus on ‘prosperity’, referring to Ukraine’s postwar economic recovery.
On the flip side, Russia is keen for its own post-war prosperity package, such as thawing out Russia’s sanctioned assets.
Areas ‘affected by the war’, as Peskov described, should also be rebuilt. Whether that includes only the patches Moscow controls is uncertain.
‘Military-to-military’ of the peace plan will also be hashed out, Witkoff said yesterday.
He added: ‘I think we’ve got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable.’
‘So if both sides want to solve this, we’re going to get it solved.’
Security guarantees will also likely be on negotiators’ lips later. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has refused to lay down his country’s guns unless he gets reassurances that Russia will not launch another invasion.
Will there be more talks?
Yes, according to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, who said today is the ‘first meeting of the trilateral working group on security issues’.
This captures how a lot of regular Ukrainians are feeling right now, that these talks today will unlikely finish with the war ending.
Trump, however, is more on the optimistic side, even though it’s partly because his administration is pushing Ukraine to accept the deal.
‘I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done, and if they don’t, they’re stupid,’ the US president said in Davos yesterday.
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