The U.S. is close to agreement with Ukraine on a peace plan, but has so far had little clear success in getting Putin on board, though he hasn't rejected it outright. Territorial control in eastern Ukraine will be the primary issue discussed in Abu Dhabi, sources say. Driving the news: White House envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, and White House official Josh Gruenbaum met with Putin inside the Kremlin.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says he hopes for a leaders' summit in the US by the end of January to discuss proposals on how to end the war with Russia. Security advisers from Ukraine's top allies met in Kyiv on Saturday for talks on a US-brokered plan to end the war, days after Kyiv announced a deal was 90% ready.
President Donald Trump will host his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday to try to close out a peace agreement that would end nearly four years of war sparked by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Russia intensified its attacks on Ukraine's capital and elsewhere in the days before the meeting. The two will meet at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Florida, where the U.S. president is spending the holidays.