Ukraine hopes to hold trilateral talks with the United States and Russia in Abu Dhabi in early or mid-November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, stressing that the proposed meeting depends on the parties’ readiness to proceed.

Axar.az reports that Zelensky made the remarks during a special address to the Hudson Institute, where he discussed efforts to resume negotiations and advance a diplomatic settlement of the war.

“We have an agreement to hold a trilateral meeting in Ukraine, United States and Russia at the team level and we hope it will happen. The plan is to meet in the first half of November and as early as possible, of course, but we are ready to meet any day, even tomorrow, but it all depends on the Russians,” Zelensky said.

Referring to the proposed venue, Zelensky said the teams could meet in Abu Dhabi in November.

“The last meeting was in Oslo, as you know. We spoke about the possibility of how to continue and unblock negotiations and meetings. Yes, the decision was about that trilateral — that the most useful it can be is trilateral at the level of leaders. But before the trilateral at the level of leaders, Americans and Russians negotiated that it can be at the technical level. And in November, early November or in the middle, I hope that our teams will meet in Abu Dhabi,” he said.

The Ukrainian president said the immediate priority should be a ceasefire, which he described as a starting point for meaningful negotiations.

“The most important thing is not just to negotiate. We need the result, and this is important to my mind. First of all, we need to move to the right position. The right position for today is ceasefires. Point number one, and I think this is the point after which we can begin real diplomacy, and Russia can work on the plan, because we had so many plans,” he said.

Zelensky also said Ukraine was prepared to discuss alternative steps if Russia refused to agree to a comprehensive ceasefire.

“We shared with the American group and with Europeans that we have to start from something, and if Russia doesn't want a whole, unconditional ceasefire for all our territory between the two countries, let's start from an energy ceasefire or a ceasefire at sea, because it's important for food security, and exchange the prisoners,” he said.

Zelensky stressed that Europe should be involved in the broader diplomatic process and that technical-level talks should ultimately lead to a meeting between the leaders of Ukraine, the United States and Russia.

“We need trilateral talks between Ukraine, America and Russia, and Europe must also be part of this conversation. And we need to move from technical-level trilateral talks to a meeting of the leaders, because the key issues can only be settled at that level,” he said.