The Kremlin welcomes the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff, saying it was “useful in every respect” and confirming that a Russia-US-Ukraine trilateral meeting on “security” will be held today in the United Arab Emirates.
The Russian delegation “will travel to Abu Dhabi in the next few hours” and will be led by General Igor Kostyukov, a senior officer of the General Staff. “The Americans have done a lot to prepare this meeting and hope that it will be a success and open up prospects for progress on all issues related to the end of the conflict,” Ushakov underlined. “We are sincerely interested in a solution through political and diplomatic means” but “until this happens Russia will continue to pursue its objectives on the battlefield,” he added.
A meeting dedicated to economic issues will also be held today in Abu Dhabi between Witkoff and the Kremlin envoy for international economic affairs Kirill Dmitriev, Ushakov specified.
Zelensky and the frontal attack on Europe from Davos
The frontal attack on Europe. Then, the announcement of talks – trilateral – with the Russians and Americans in the Emirates. The tones are reminiscent of Trump, but this time it is Volodymyr Zelensky who speaks, who chooses the stage of the Davos Forum to vent all his frustration against his most faithful allies. Accused of lacking “political will” to confront Vladimir Putin as war continues to rage on their eastern borders. And to appear “lost” and “fragmented” in facing the Donald Trump storm, with whom the Ukrainian leader has in the meantime announced that he has reached an agreement on the coveted American security guarantees, among the critical points on the path towards the end of the war.
War in Ukraine, the issue of the territories
However, the issue of the territories remains: “We have not discussed it”, stated the tycoon after the bilateral meeting with Zelensky in Davos, while the US envoys Witkoff and Kushner flew to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin and listen to the other bell of the negotiation.
At the Swiss forum, it is already the attack of Zelensky’s speech that portends a bad quarter of an hour for the European leaders. “No one would want to live like this, repeating the same thing for weeks, months and, of course, four years,” said Zelensky, evoking the cult film ‘Groundhog Day’: “This is exactly how we like to live now. And it is our life. Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words: Europe must know how to defend itself. A year has passed and nothing has changed.” The overture was followed by a single act of charge against the Old Continent: first Zelensky reproached European leaders that “at the moment” of using Russian assets to help defend Ukraine, the decision was “blocked”. Then, there was “no real progress” on establishing a tribunal on Russian aggression.
“Greenland Mode”
“Is it a question of time or political will?”, asked the leader of Kiev, launching into a description of Europe as “a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and medium powers”. A continent “lost in the attempt to convince the president of the United States to change. But he won’t change”. And “he will not listen to this type of Europe”.
We Ukrainians “have told our European partners several times: act now.” But Europe “still remains in Greenland mode”, is the judgment of the Kiev leader. “We are told not to mention the Tomahawks so as not to spoil the mood of the Americans. They tell us not to mention the Taurus missiles.” In Europe “there are endless discussions, omissions, internal rivalries that prevent us from uniting and speaking sincerely, to find real solutions”. But “we must not accept that Europe is just a salad of small and medium powers, seasoned with the enemies of Europe itself”, urged Zelensky with a note of hope at the end of his speech. Because “when it is united, Europe is truly invincible”.