Russia, Ukraine, US to hold fresh peace talks in Abu Dhabi

On February 28, 2022, Ukrainian and Russian delegations meet in neighboring Belarus for the first time after the invasion.

Moscow: Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the US are to meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in the latest bid to end the war.

Key developments from past sessions since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022:

Feb. 28, 2022: Ukrainian and Russian delegations meet in neighboring Belarus for the first time after the invasion. Talks continue for two weeks, deciding only on humanitarian corridors for evacuating civilians.

March 10, 2022: Russian and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba meet in Antalya, Turkiye.

March 21, 2022: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an idea rebuffed by Lavrov.

March 28-30, 2022: Delegations meet in Istanbul to work on a draft peace agreement. Moscow says it’s willing to “fundamentally cut back” military activity near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv; Ukraine says it’s open to discussing neutral status for Ukraine if its security is backed by other nations.

April 7, 2022: Lavrov rejects a Ukrainian proposal as “unacceptable,” saying Kyiv has walked back on an agreement to exempt the Crimean Peninsula from wider Ukrainian security guarantees. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

April 26, 2022: UN Secretary-General António Guterres visits Russia to discuss ending the war.

May 13, 2022: US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin calls his Russian counterpart, their first contact since war began.

July 22, 2022: Russia and Ukraine, with mediation by Turkiye and the UN, agree to unblock grain supplies stuck in Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Russia withdraws from the deal a year later.

Sept. 30, 2022: Russia illegally annexes the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, even though it doesn’t fully control any of them. Ukraine responds by applying to join NATO and by enacting a decree that declares negotiations with Putin “impossible.”

Nov. 15, 2022: Zelenskyy unveils a 10-point peace plan at the G20 summit in Indonesia.

June 16-17, 2023: African leaders travel to Kyiv and St. Petersburg on a peace mission, without success.

June 25, 2023: Officials from 15 countries, including the US, India, Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and several representatives from the European Union, meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss Zelenskyy’s peace plan.

Aug. 5-6, 2023: Two days of discussions on the war begin in Saudi Arabia with delegates from 40 countries, including China, India, South Africa and Brazil, but not Russia. No joint statements are issued.

Oct. 28-29, 2023: Delegates from 65 countries meet in Malta to continue talks on Zelenskyy’s peace plan. Russia, which dismissed the talks, was not invited. China, though invited, did not participate.

June 15-16, 2024: Representatives of 92 nations meet in Nidwalden, Switzerland, to discuss Ukraine’s peace plan, but a consensus remains elusive. The summit’s final statement is backed by most — but not all — participants.

Dec. 7, 2024: US President-elect Donald Trump travels to Paris and meets Zelenskyy and other European leaders.

Feb. 12, 2025: Trump and Putin speak directly via telephone and agree to begin negotiations on ending the war. The conversation ends a three-year US-led effort to isolate Putin.

Feb. 18, 2025: Russian and US officials, including Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meet in Saudi Arabia and agree to work toward ending the war, as well as restoring bilateral ties. Ukrainian officials are not invited.

Feb. 28, 2025: Zelenskyy holds a contentious meeting with Trump, Rubio and Vice President JD Vance in the White House. A proposed minerals deal between the countries is left unsigned.

March 11, 2025: US and Ukrainian officials meet in Saudi Arabia, with Americans proposing a plan for a 30-day ceasefire. Kyiv agrees to the proposed truce.

March 13, 2025: Putin effectively rejects the ceasefire plan, stating certain issues still must be resolved. He also meets with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow. Witkoff travels to Russia twice more in April to meet Putin.

March 23-24, 2025: The US holds separate talks with each side in Saudi Arabia. The White House says they agreed to a Black Sea truce.

May 16, 2025: Russia and Ukraine meet directly in Istanbul, under Turkish mediation, for the first time in three years and agree to swap 1,000 prisoners from each side. Ukraine’s delegation was led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, while Russia’s was headed by Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky.

June 2 and July 23, 2025: Two more rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul produce an exchange of draft memorandums.

Aug. 15, 2025: Trump and Putin meet in Anchorage, Alaska. The summit produces no concrete peace agreement, ceasefire deal, or specific resolution on the war in Ukraine. International observers widely view it as a symbolic boost for Moscow.

Aug. 18, 2025: Trump hosts Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House. Discussions center on establishing robust security guarantees for Ukraine.

November 2025: A 28-point US-Russian peace plan emerges, and critics say it favors Moscow. On Nov. 23, it’s cut to 19 points during discussions involving Washington, Kyiv and Ukraine’s European allies in Geneva.

Dec. 2, 2025: Putin, his adviser Yuri Ushakov and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev meet Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Moscow. Ushakov describes the meeting as constructive but says much work remains.

Dec. 4-6, 2025: Witkoff and Kushner meet a Ukrainian delegation headed by Umerov and Chief of General Staff Gen. Andriy Hnatov in Miami.

Dec. 14-15, 2025: Ukrainian officials, including Zelenskyy, travel to Berlin for talks with Witkoff and Kushner. US officials say Washington agrees to provide Kyiv with unspecified security guarantees.

Dec. 20-21, 2025: Dmitriev holds talks with Witkoff and Kushner in Miami. The Americans meet separately with a Ukrainian delegation.

Dec. 28, 2025: Zelenskyy meets in Florida with Trump, who calls Putin beforehand.

Jan. 6-7, 2026: Zelenskyy and other Ukrainians attend a summit of the “Coalition of the Willing” in Paris and hold talks with Witkoff and Kushner. Kyiv’s allies tout major progress for defending Ukraine if a peace deal is struck, saying they were ready to provide international guarantees to deter Russia from attacking again.

Jan. 17, 2026: A Ukrainian delegation arrives in the US for talks.

Jan. 20-22, 2026: Witkoff and Kushner meet separately in Davos, Switzerland, with Ukrainian and Russian delegations. Zelenskyy then meets Trump for what the US leader calls “very good” talks. Zelenskyy calls them “productive and meaningful.”

Jan. 23-24, 2026: Russian, Ukrainian and US delegates meet in Abu Dhabi in the first known instance of Trump administration officials sitting down with both countries to try to halt the war.

Feb. 4-5, 2026: A second round of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi leads to swapping 157 prisoners from each side.

Feb. 17-18, 2026: The third round of trilateral negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, ends without a breakthrough.

Feb. 28, 2026: The US and Israel begin a war with Iran, leading the Trump administration to wind down talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials.

May 7, 2026: Umerov meets in Miami with US officials, as negotiations remain stalled.

Sept. 5-6, 2026: Witkoff and Kushner meet Putin in Moscow on Sept. 5, and in Kyiv with Zelenskyy the next day.

Oct. 21, 2026: Ushakov says Putin agrees “in principle” with Witkoff to resume talks after Nov. 10.

Oct. 27-Nov. 1, 2026: After intervention by US first lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo XIV, a localized ceasefire is reached for the region around the Russia-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine to allow the evacuation of some of its residents and the delivery of food and other supplies.