Kremlin: Trilateral Ukraine talks depend on battlefield situation 

By Guy Birchall 
Contributing Writer 

The next round of talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States depends on the situation on the front lines, the Kremlin has said, casting doubt on the negotiations. 

Moscow, Kyiv and Washington have mooted talks after Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to resume communication among the three capitals following a meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg earlier this month. 

The Kremlin has not publicly announced a precise date for the talks, but it previously said they could take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, after Nov. 10. 

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the date of the proposed talks will depend on the overall situation of the war in Ukraine, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday. 

“You remember why the previous round, which was supposedly agreed upon, was canceled — and then the Ukrainians themselves disrupted it,” he added, referring to proposed talks Moscow says were agreed to take place after the Russian elections, a claim Kyiv disputes, according to Ukrainian state-backed outlet Kyiv24. 

The Kremlin aide’s comments came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces had recaptured territory and that the country’s front-line positions are now the strongest they have been in a long time. 

Ushakov also intimated that the situation in the Middle East remains unstable, saying that a meeting scheduled to take place earlier this month between Russia and the member states of the Arab League had been postponed because “the current situation in the Middle East simply doesn’t allow for this summit to be held anytime soon.” 

The meeting would have been the first of its kind. 

Ushakov also addressed the prospect of European involvement in the negotiations, saying “there’s absolutely no talk of this right now; no one is considering anything,” in response to a question on the matter. 

“What there is now is an agreement on resuming three-sided consultations with representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the United States,” he added. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Oct. 25 that Russia would support the European Union appointing a designated negotiator to represent the bloc on the war. 

“It would be good to have a [EU] negotiator. It would be even better if that negotiator were someone genuinely committed to facilitating a peaceful settlement,” Peskov told TASS, commenting on reports that Finnish President Alexander Stubb could potentially take up such a role. 

Two days after Peskov’s comments, Stubb, along with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, had a phone conversation with Putin, in a notable break from the previous European stance of not directly speaking to Moscow. 

According to a joint statement from Stubb and Store, the talk was linked to the upcoming trilateral Abu Dhabi meeting; however, the statement stressed that the pair made the call solely as leaders of their respective nations, not representing “Europe as a whole.” 

Ushakov, responding to questions about Putin’s conversation with Stubb and Store, said Moscow wasn’t seeking further contact with Europe, but added it wouldn’t spurn such overtures in the future if they were offered. 

He also acknowledged that future conversations with the EU would eventually happen, saying that “sooner or later we’ll probably have to talk to people we don’t really like.” 

Reuters contributed to this report.