Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the next round of peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia will take place “soon,” Russian state media reported on Friday.
Ukrainian, US, and Russian delegations met in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and Thursday for the second round of trilateral talks aimed at ending Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
As per Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti, Peskov responded to their correspondent’s question about when negotiators would next meet.
“There’s no exact date yet. But it will be soon,” he said.
Peskov’s comments echo those of lead Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov, who said Thursday that trilateral talks are set to continue “in the coming weeks.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed later that evening that further meetings were planned for “the near future,” adding that they would most likely take place in the US.
Peskov neither confirmed nor denied this in his comments to the press on Friday.
The most tangible outcome of the talks so far is the prisoner exchange carried out on Thursday, which returned 157 Ukrainians home. Many of them had been held in Russia since 2022 – more than half had been captured while defending Mariupol.
However, the issue of territory remains a key sticking point. While Ukrainian and US officials have hailed the talks as “constructive” and “productive,” the Kremlin has generally struck a more bombastic tone.
Reports emerged in Russia’s state media on Thursday that “Russia sees recognition of [Ukraine’s eastern Donbas regions] by all countries” as part of a larger peace agreement.