Zelenskiy says 'dignified and lasting' peace possible, ahead of new round of talks with Russia and US

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday it was “realistic to reach a dignified and lasting peace” ahead of the next round of peace talks with Russian and American officials scheduled for this week in Abu Dhabi, Reuters notes.

After consultations with his negotiating team, Zelensky said Ukraine's delegation would also hold bilateral meetings with US officials during the two days of talks in Abu Dhabi, which are set to begin on Wednesday.

“We consider the document on bilateral security guarantees with the United States to be completed and anticipate the continuation of substantial work on documents related to economic reconstruction and development,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The second round of trilateral negotiations between Russia, the United States and Ukraine will take place in Abu Dhabi on February 4 and 5.

On January 23 and 24, Abu Dhabi hosted the first round of consultations. The group of Russian negotiators was led by Igor Kostyukov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff. Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, led the Ukrainian negotiators.

Trump announced a week-long truce on Thursday

Trump announced Thursday that he had agreed with Vladimir Putin that the Russian military would not attack Ukraine's power grid for a week if the Ukrainians did the same. He motivated the decision by the extremely cold weather in Ukraine.

However, Ukraine does not have a formal truce with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on January 30, but Kiev has indicated it is ready to respect a mutual cessation of energy attacks if Moscow stops attacking first.

Russia resumed attacks on Ukraine's power grid on Monday, causing blackouts in Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkassy and more than 160 towns across the country.