Zelenskyy Seeks Putin Meeting After Abu Dhabi Talks — SkimNews
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- Zelenskyy said in Berlin that the US-mediated adviser-level talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 are meant to open the way to a trilateral format at the level of leaders, including Vladimir Putin, counting on that format and other diplomatic steps to get there.
- Friedrich Merz, speaking alongside Zelenskyy, said it is important that Russia finally and seriously engages in negotiations about a ceasefire and a subsequent peace agreement, adding: 'I do not see that happening so far.'
- Steve Witkoff announced the new round of Russia-Ukraine-US talks, focused on 'post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps toward peace', and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed a Russian delegation led by former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky will attend, according to TASS.
- NATO: European governments have insisted on involvement but are unlikely to be at the Abu Dhabi table, and Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane reported a journalist's pointed question — why Europeans are not going if Europe and Ukraine are supposedly in lockstep — went largely unanswered; US envoys meet representatives from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, NATO and the European Union in Brussels this week on security guarantees and Europe's post-war security architecture.
- Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs an additional 70 billion euros ($77.5bn) from European countries next year, while Merz said the financial side of helping Ukraine has become 'a real issue', with the cost of living a serious voter concern and the far-right AfD and left-wing Die Linke 'prospering in the polls and in elections'.
- Melania Trump brokered a mission last week in which human rights ombudsmen from Russia and Ukraine oversaw a local ceasefire in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky to evacuate residents and deliver aid, a rare display of cooperation between the warring sides; Putin and Zelenskyy have had no direct contact since the invasion and their representatives have held only a handful of rounds of talks.
- Coalition of the Willing, a group of about 35 countries backing Ukraine, is due to meet in Berlin around the same time as Trump, Xi Jinping and Putin may hold three-way talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen on November 18-19, while the G20 in Florida runs December 13-15 with Putin's attendance unclear.
Why it matters: Zelenskyy's leaders' meeting ambition depends on Russia engaging seriously, which Merz says it is not doing. Meanwhile European governments are unlikely to be at the Abu Dhabi table while being asked for an additional €70 billion next year, against voter concern over living costs and polling gains for AfD and Die Linke.
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