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It will, however, be an unusual meeting due to the absence of some heavyweight figures.
An unusual meeting between U.S. and Russian representatives will take place in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Politico and the Financial Times report.
The unusual part is that the American delegation will consist of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, acting as the lone senior American representative.
The encounter is drawing attention not only for its subject — a proposed plan to end the war in Ukraine — but also for who is not attending.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, chief Ukraine negotiator Steve Witkoff, and other senior officials who have shaped the administration’s diplomacy will not be in the room, according to the reports.
An unusual setup
The absence of Washington’s usual diplomatic heavyweights has raised eyebrows among European and U.S. partners, given the stakes involved.
According to Politico, Driscoll is carrying a revised peace outline that U.S. and Ukrainian officials completed Sunday, a document initially drafted as a 28-point plan but reduced to roughly 19 elements.
The State Department said, “President Trump’s entire team, including Secretary Rubio, Special Envoy Witkoff and many others, has been working in lockstep for 10 months to bring an end to the senseless and destructive war.”
The Russian delegation is unknown.
Ukrainian representatives as well?
European diplomats said they observed “some progress” in Geneva but warned that Moscow would push hard in the coming discussions.
It is unknown if Ukraine will be attending the meeting as well, but according to the Financial Times, the chief of the Ukrainian Intelligence Service will also head to Abu Dhabi.
A virtual session of the roughly 50-nation “coalition of the willing” is scheduled for Tuesday to coordinate support for Kyiv.
Don’t get your hopes up
Diplomacy has been in overdrive since the U.S. revealed a 28-point plan for peace in Ukraine last week.
The plan, which was heavily criticized for favouring Russian demands, was met with a counter-proposal by the European nations and Ukraine after a meeting during the weekend — a counter-proposal that the Kremlin has said “does not work for Russia,” according to Reuters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also been rumored to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump to finalize a deal as early as this week, Sky News reports.
Sources: Financial Times, Politico, Reuters, Sky News
