ABU DHABI: Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday that Russian and Ukrainian representatives held a meeting in Abu Dhabi amid diplomatic maneuvering led by the Trump administration to press for a negotiated end to the conflict.
Ushakov said representatives of Russia’s intelligence services had been in the Gulf city to meet their Ukrainian counterparts and discuss “very sensitive issues,” including prisoner exchanges.
While there, they also met U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, a U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Ushakov said the meeting with the U.S. official had been unexpected, and that the latest U.S.-drafted peace plan had not been not discussed. He did not say what they actually talked about.
“No, the peace plan was not discussed in Abu Dhabi. The peace plan has not yet been discussed in detail with anyone,” Ushakov told Russian state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin.
“We saw it, it was passed on to us, but there haven’t been any discussions yet.”
Ushakov added that the proposals required “truly serious analysis, serious discussion.”
“Some aspects can be viewed positively, but many require specialized discussion among experts,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a 28-point peace proposal last week that has since been modified as Ukrainian and European officials pushed for a version more favorable to Kyiv.
Trump said on Tuesday his envoy Steve Witkoff would be traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week and that his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who helped negotiate the Gaza deal that brought about an uneasy ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, was also involved.
Ukrainian officials have said that they support the modified peace deal framework, but stressed that the most sensitive issues needed to be fixed at a potential meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump.
