Zelenskyy names Ukraine’s team for negotiations with US and Russia
Photo: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine (Getty Images)
Ukraine will send its full negotiation team to talks with the US and Russia in Abu Dhabi, including the head of the Office of the President, Kyrylo Budanov, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this while speaking with journalists in Davos.
According to Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian delegation will include:
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Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Budanov;
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First Deputy Head of the Office of the President Sergiy Kyslytsya;
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Leader of the Servant of the People faction in the Rada (parliament), David Arakhamia;
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Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Andrii Hnatov.
The president said that it would be a trilateral meeting at the negotiators’ level, that the outcome was yet to be seen, and that the participants would work for two days.
Negotiations in Abu Dhabi
The first to announce the Abu Dhabi meeting was the US President’s Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff. He said that after his visit to Moscow and meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, working groups would operate in Abu Dhabi and "talk about prosperity."
Afterward, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine, the US, and Russia would hold a trilateral meeting at a technical level for the first time.
The Ukrainian president also emphasized the importance of Russia being ready to make compromises, stressing that compromises should not come only from Ukraine.
The main contentious issue in the peace process is territory. Russia demands full control over the entire Donetsk region, and the US has also tried to persuade Ukraine to accept such conditions.
For its part, Zelenskyy insists that no territory can be given away.
Zelenskyy has also suggested the possibility of holding a referendum on the US 20-point peace plan, which, among other things, proposes territorial concessions from Ukraine.
