Multiple reports in American mainstream media, echoed by Ukrainian state news, indicated on Tuesday that U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll is holding meetings with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to discuss a U.S.-proposed end to the Ukraine invasion.
Reports from Reuters, CBS News, and the Associated Press, among others, suggested that talks have begun between American and Russian officials to refine what began as a 28-point peace plan presented by Washington last week. The Ukrainian state media outlet Ukrinform did not independently verify the report, but shared the report citing the American news outlets, suggesting its accuracy.
“Secretary Driscoll met with members of the Russian delegation [Monday night] for several hours in Abu Dhabi,” an anonymous U.S. official allegedly told CBS News, according to Ukrinform. “He is scheduled to meet with them again throughout the day [Tuesday] to discuss the peace process and rapidly move the peace negotiations forward.”
The White House has not confirmed those reports at press time. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took questions about the alleged talks with American officials on Tuesday, but did not offer any concrete information. Lavrov confirmed that the Russian government was in possession of the latest version of the Ukraine peace deal, but stated that officials “received it through unofficial channels,” rather than through either America or Ukraine.
“Our American colleagues have not yet provided us with the version the media are speculating about,” Lavrov claimed, according to the Russian news agency Tass.
Lavrov also did not concretely answer whether reports on the alleged Abu Dhabi talks were real or not, but did offer, “we have permanent channels of communication with the Americans.”
“This is something that [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin brought up when he assessed [U.S. leader] Donald Trump’s peace plan. We are not hiding this,” he said of the private communications.
Tass, which aligns with the Russian government, did report on the Abu Dhabi talks, but did not independently confirm the reports that the talks are ongoing.
Elsewhere in his comments, Lavrov appeared to indicate that Moscow was pleased with the pace of the ongoing talks. He described the current state of the peace agreement, which is reportedly being continuously edited as negotiations continue, as positive in the eyes of the Russian government.
“Our assessments remain in effect in that the key provisions of Trump’s plan are based on the understandings reached in Anchorage during the high-level Russia-US meeting in August,” Lavrov said. “We welcome the fact that these principles are enshrined in the plan.”
Putin and Trump met in person in Anchorage, Alaska, in August, to discuss a pathway to ending Putin’s invasion.
The reported talks with Russia follow official conversations between the Trump administration and that of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, this weekend to discuss the plan with Ukrainian officials, leaving the engagement declaring that they were “the most productive and meaningful so far” towards ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reports surfaced late on Monday that Ukraine had agreed to the peace proposal, so American diplomats were now tasked with convincing Moscow to sign on.
“The Ukrainians have agreed to the peace deal,” an anonymous purported U.S. official told ABC News on Tuesday. “There are some minor details to be sorted out but they have agreed to a peace deal.”
Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, colonizing its Crimean peninsula during the tenure of former President Barack Obama (D). In 2022, during the term of Obama’s former vice president Joe Biden (D), Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country, followed by Russian strongman Vladimir Putin announcing in September 2022 the “annexation” of four Ukrainian regions: Luhansk and Donetsk (the Donbass regions), Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
Neither the White House nor the parties to the conflicts have officially published the proposed peace deal. Reports have indicated, however, that it would require Ukraine to accept Russia keeping Crimea and the Donbass region, in exchange for enhanced security guarantees and promises from the Putin regime that it will not continue to invade other parts of Ukraine or its other neighbors.
Prior to the talks this weekend, Zelensky released a video in which he appeared to indicate that Ukraine was open, though reluctantly, to taking the peace deal.
“Now is one of the most difficult moments in our history,” Zelensky declared. “Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult choice: either the loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner. Either the difficult 28 points, or an extremely difficult winter — the hardest one — and further risks.”
The 28-point plan, Ukrinform has since reported, is down to 19 points. Given the fluid nature of the talks, it is unclear which points remain in the proposed agreement at press time.
“We will absolutely not give the enemy any reason to say that Ukraine does not want peace,” Zelensky asserted last week, “that Ukraine is disrupting the process or that Ukraine is not ready for diplomacy. That will not happen.”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/11/25/reports-u-s-starts-peace-talks-russia-after-ukraine-reportedly-agrees-deal/
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