Russia and Ukraine are set to resume peace negotiations with the United States on Tuesday, their first trilateral talks in nine months. U.S. officials say both sides have privately shown some willingness to be flexible on territorial issues, a longstanding obstacle to an agreement.
U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are due to meet in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday with Ukrainian intelligence chief Rustem Umerov and Vladimir Medinsky, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and an experienced negotiator.
Before the meetings, the Trump administration asked Moscow to accept security guarantees for Ukraine modeled on Articles Four and Five of NATO’s treaty, according to a U.S. official. The official said the proposal would be “effectively very similar to NATO.”
President Donald Trump has not decided what security commitment the United States would make, the official said. Any such guarantee would be a major decision, requiring agreement between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The talks come after significant changes on the international stage since the previous trilateral discussions in Geneva in February, including the start of a new conflict involving the United States and Iran and the 2026 midterm elections, in which Democrats made sweeping gains.
The Abu Dhabi meetings will also begin structured discussions about territory. Russia continues to demand all of Donetsk, while Ukraine has called for the fighting to be frozen along the current front line. In private, however, both countries have shown some flexibility, the U.S. official said.
In an interview broadcast Sunday, Trump suggested Ukraine’s borders could change as part of a peace deal, saying the country might emerge from the war in “a little bit different shape.”
U.S. negotiators do not expect to settle the territorial dispute in Abu Dhabi. Their immediate aim is to establish each side’s position, identify outstanding differences and explore possible compromises that could later be presented to Putin and Zelenskyy.
The administration sees the question of territory as closely connected to Ukraine’s security after the war. Officials believe neither side is likely to make the concessions needed on borders until it has a clearer picture of the postwar security arrangements.
Before meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives, U.S. negotiators plan to speak with national security officials from Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy, as well as representatives of NATO, the European Union and Ukraine. Those discussions will focus on security guarantees and the broader security framework after the war.
Washington hopes Russia will eventually join a wider negotiating process that includes European governments. “We need Europe at the table,” a U.S. official said, adding that direct talks between Russia and European countries would be important to reaching a lasting settlement.
One proposal being considered is to revive the NATO-Russia Council and expand its role in communication, de-escalation and handling future disputes. Officials are also discussing crisis communications, increased military transparency and reciprocal steps to lower the risk of renewed conflict.
The administration is not expecting a final deal in Abu Dhabi. Instead, it hopes the meetings will create a basis for more regular negotiations and eventually broaden the talks beyond the United States, Russia and Ukraine to include Europe.
U.S. officials also see sanctions as possible leverage for enforcing a future agreement. Sanctions on Russia could be eased gradually, one official suggested, while retaining the option to restore them if Moscow breaks the terms of a peace deal.
Witkoff and Kushner may travel again soon to meet with Putin and Zelenskyy, depending on how the Abu Dhabi talks go. One U.S. official said this was the first time they had sensed a genuine Russian interest in ending the war, while acknowledging that the negotiations remain uncertain and that deep distrust and major unresolved questions persist.
The immediate question is whether the flexibility U.S. negotiators say they have seen in private can lead to concrete progress when Russian and Ukrainian officials meet directly. The talks could also pave the way for diplomacy at a higher level.
Trump is expected to travel to China next week for the APEC summit. He said Sunday that he expects to meet Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping there. Discussions about a possible three-way meeting are underway, but no summit has been confirmed.
