But a trend toward an end is not an end.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration sees a trend toward ending the conflict in Ukraine, telling reporters that both Russia and Ukraine are tired of fighting and want peace. According to TASS, Trump said the United States was involved in the process because he wanted to see people stop getting killed. He added that meetings were taking place "right now as we speak" and that they were going okay.
The remarks coincide with talks between Russia, the United States and Ukraine scheduled for November 10-11 in Abu Dhabi. The Russian delegation will be headed by Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, while the Ukrainian delegation will be led by Foreign Intelligence Service chief Rustem Umerov. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks would focus on security guarantees. He also noted that European representatives could not participate because a trilateral format had been agreed upon from the outset.
Trump rejected a journalist's assertion that Russia was not seeking a settlement. His comments suggest Washington believes there is a genuine opening, though the substance of what is being discussed in Abu Dhabi has not been disclosed. The presence of Medinsky and Umerov, both senior figures with security and intelligence backgrounds, indicates that the talks are intended to address concrete arrangements rather than general principles.
The exclusion of European states from the trilateral format is notable. Peskov's explanation that the format was agreed from the outset leaves open the question of how any security guarantees would be underwritten and by whom. The source material does not specify what guarantees are under consideration, nor whether any draft documents have been tabled.
Trump's statement that the conflict does not affect the United States sits alongside his claim that he is able to bring the parties together. The gap between the two positions is one that any settlement will have to bridge. For now, the meetings in Abu Dhabi are described as going okay, but no details of progress have been confirmed. It is not yet known what, if anything, the parties have agreed, whether a further round of talks is planned, or how European governments will respond to their exclusion.
The shift in tone from Washington is significant for a conflict that has been defined by stalemate. But a trend toward an end is not an end. The coming days will show whether the words from Washington are matched by movement in Abu Dhabi.
