US seeks to revive trilateral talks to end Russia-Ukraine war

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - NEW YORK — The Trump administration is stepping up efforts to de-escalate the war in Ukraine and restart diplomacy with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.

Both Kyiv and Moscow confirmed the plan to relaunch trilateral talks in a bid to end the four-and-a-half-year Russia-Ukraine war. The United Arab Emirates is mooted as the host of the new talks.

“The American side has proposed meeting at a technical level in a three-way ⁠⁠format,” Zelensky told reporters. “We are awaiting a ⁠⁠proposal from the United States ⁠⁠regarding the date ⁠⁠and the US has suggested the Emirates as ‌‌a possible location.”

The move follows negotiations that started earlier this year before the US efforts to broker an end to hostilities petered out amid Washington’s war on Iran.

The Kremlin confirmed that a trilateral meeting could be soon, although spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were no details to ⁠⁠add currently.

President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Russia and Ukraine earlier this month in a bid to jump-start the bid to secure a ceasefire.

The US stance has previously been criticized for favouring Russia’s narrative, with Moscow insisting that Ukraine cede territory that Russia has illegally occupied, demilitarise and drop ambitions to join NATO.

Russia’s presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev reportedly met with Witkoff ‌‌and ‌‌Kushner in the US on Thursday. Peskov said those talks were about potential economic cooperation.

Zelensky said on Friday that Trump told him he would allow Ukraine to produce advanced Patriot air defense missiles, after a series of reversals on the issue.

Kyiv is facing a shortage of the missiles needed to counter Russia's increasing drone and missile attacks on the country, the latest of which killed a 14-year-old boy in the capital on Friday.

During his latest visit to the United States this week, Zelensky renewed calls for air defence support, and for the Patriots, which remain the only system reliably able to counter Russia's powerful ballistic missiles.

"At our last meeting, President Trump emphasised to me that yes, I have made a final decision. Ukraine will receive licences for the production of Patriot missiles," Zelensky said in a voice note to journalists.

Should a licence be issued, it would be more than a year before Kyiv could put any new Patriot systems into service, leaving Zelensky to continue his pleas for additional support from allies.

Kyiv is also talking with European Union representatives about the need to accelerate budget support for the military, warning that Ukraine risks running out of missiles and drones early next year.

Meanwhile, the EU countries have agreed to release a €6.6 billion programme of military aid for Ukraine that had stalled since spring 2023, when Hungary imposed a controversial veto that paralyzed the initiative.

The agreement at the political level was reached on Friday during a meeting of the Political and Security Committee in Brussels.

"That's good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia," High Representative Kaja Kallas wrote on social media, announcing the news.

"Moscow's hybrid attacks try to intimidate Europe into scaling back its support for Ukraine. Europe is doing the opposite."

The so-called European Peace Facility (EPF) was designed to partially reimburse weapons and ammunition that member states donate to Ukraine.

Both Moscow and Kyiv continue to launch nightly barrages against one another.

Overnight attacks struck a 16-floor building in Kyiv’s central Pechersk district, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring at least seven other people.

In the southern Odesa region, Governor Oleh Kiper said one person was killed ‌‌and another injured in a series of “massive” Russian strikes on a residential area and logistics premises ‌‌of a ‌‌postal operator.

Russia said its air defence ⁠⁠units destroyed about ⁠⁠50 drones over the Rostov region overnight and a drone attack damaged ⁠⁠the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, forcing it to suspend operations.

Ukraine recently struck two other major ‌‌Russian ‌‌oil refineries in Moscow and Yaroslavl. Zelensky asserted that refineries ⁠⁠in Bashkortostan and ⁠⁠the Samara ⁠⁠region had also been hit in the past 24 hours.

The Ukrainian leader also reported unspecified strikes in the Black Sea. He added that he has held talks with India, Turkey, ⁠⁠Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries concerning efforts to unblock shipping in the Black Sea, where Russia has targeted cargo vessels.