Putin, Zelensky to meet soon? Will US-mediated trilateral talks will end Russia-Ukraine war? What we know

Russian President Vladimir Putin may soon meet Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, as two-day trilateral peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and mediator United States concluded on Saturday. News portal Axios quoted a US administration source, and said that both leaders may meet soon, adding that additional negotiation should take place before that. “We are very close to a meeting between Putin and Zelensky. We think those meetings need to happen before a meeting between the leaders. We don't think we are far away from that. If we continue down the current path we will get to that place."

Washington believes that trilateral talks of representatives of Russia, the United States and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi "went as well as we could have expected." "We feel good where we are now," another US official told Axios. Trilateral consultations were held in Abu Dhabi on January 23 and 24. Further rounds of trilateral talks would continue in Abu Dhabi next week, news agency AFP reported quoting a source.

This comes after Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump met for approximately one hour on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Both leaders described the closed-door meeting as "productive" and "very good," marking a significant step in the US-led push to end the war.

Peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have evolved through multiple phases, beginning with early direct talks in 2022 and moving toward high-stakes trilateral mediation involving the United States. The most recent version of peace draft include 20-point peace plan. While Zelensky is unmoved over territorial gains for Russia, the Kremlin has described certain versions as a "positive" basis for talks, but issued sharp rejections to Western-led security guarantees for Ukraine. Major questions remain over territory remained unanswered.

Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner is handling the job for him. They have recently visited Moscow for a four-hour "extremely frank" meeting with Putin to discuss the final hurdles. Putin was accompanied by his top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, and Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Reports indicated that Putin kept the US officials waiting. While Moscow viewed the peace document as a "significant step forward," officials noted it still failed to address several of Russia’s primary interests.