Signs are growing that the outbreak of military hostilities in the Middle East could put a pause on U.S.-brokered talks to end the war in Ukraine, as the Kremlin said Tuesday it lacks “clarity” on when and where the next round of trilateral negotiations will take place.
“It’s pretty much impossible to talk about a potential meeting in Abu Dhabi at the moment, and for obvious reasons,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing.
Ukrainian officials previously said an upcoming meeting could take place in the UAE capital.
“The Americans obviously have had a lot more on their plates in recent days,” Peskov said, adding that he did not see any indication that the conflict in the Middle East would impact the Trump administration’s approach to Ukraine talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in an interview published Tuesday that he expected another round of peace negotiations to take place later this week despite Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran.
“No one has postponed the next trilateral meeting,” Zelensky was quoted as saying. “I believe it can be held on March 5 or 6, as planned.”
Signs that peace negotiations were coming up against a wall began to emerge around the time of the last meeting in Switzerland in February, when Zelensky lashed out against chief Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky for wasting time with “historical s***” instead of focusing on substantive diplomatic issues.
In his interview with Corriere della Sera on Tuesday, Zelensky said the talks were “stuck” over territory, as Russian President Vladimir Putin remains adamant about Ukraine relinquishing control of the entire Donbas region as a condition for peace.
Kremlin sources told Bloomberg this weekend that officials in Moscow may soon walk away from the U.S.-brokered negotiations if Ukraine refuses to give up more territory.
U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed when the next round of talks will take place.
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner have played key roles in both the Ukraine negotiations and separate talks over Tehran’s nuclear program, which broke down this weekend after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
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