Key points

  • Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States will meet in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday 3 November 2026.
  • On the agenda, Zelenskyy said, are security guarantees, an “energy ceasefire” and a truce in the Black Sea to guarantee food exports; the meeting would be the first direct three-way talks since February, Reuters reports.
  • Teams from the United States, Europe, NATO and Ukraine meet in Brussels on Wednesday 4 November to discuss a recovery package and security guarantees, Zelenskyy said, while the European Commission hosts a separate reconstruction meeting the same day, its chief spokesperson Paula Pinho said.
  • Germany is putting into action air-defence and energy assistance agreed during Merz’s visit to Kyiv in October, Merz said, with those two areas the priority ahead of winter; German businesses are ready to contribute, and cooperation will be deepened at the ninth German-Ukrainian Business Forum in Berlin on 20 November.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Berlin on Tuesday for talks with Friedrich Merz that had not been announced in advance — visits by the Ukrainian president to Germany are kept secret until shortly before they happen, for security reasons, Reuters reports. At the joint press conference that followed, Zelenskyy set out the next two steps in the diplomacy: Brussels this week, then Abu Dhabi next week. Read more: Hungary blocks Ukraine's final two EU chapters in Brussels — and Kyiv's end-of-2026 hope hangs on what happens next

The Abu Dhabi announcement is the one that matters most, because it would put negotiators from all three sides in the same room for the first time since February. Zelenskyy said security guarantees, an “energy ceasefire” and a Black Sea truce to guarantee food exports will be discussed. The announcement came from Zelenskyy at the Berlin press conference; the reports of that conference do not record a matching confirmation from Moscow or Washington on the day, so the meeting stands, for now, as Kyiv’s announced timetable rather than a jointly confirmed appointment.

Brussels first: Wednesday’s meetings

Before Abu Dhabi comes Brussels. Zelenskyy said teams from the United States, Europe, NATO and Ukraine will meet there on Wednesday to discuss, among other things, a recovery package and security guarantees, and to work at team level. That is the working-level session: the officials who would have to turn any political agreement into something implementable, meeting before the negotiators gather in Abu Dhabi.

The Ukrainian and German delegations seated at a long table during a meeting
The two delegations at the table during the December 2024 meeting between Zelenskyy and Merz, in a file photo. Photo: President of Ukraine / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0). Source file · Licence

Alongside it, the European Commission will hold a meeting on Wednesday with representatives of Ukraine, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, NATO and the World Bank to discuss Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction, Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho announced on Tuesday, Interfax reports. The two Brussels meetings are distinct: one is a team-level discussion of recovery and security guarantees, the other a high-level reconstruction session hosted by the Commission. Together they explain why Berlin mattered this week — it fixed the diary for both.

The key figures

Key figures
MeasureFigureSource
Abu Dhabi meeting10–11 November 2026Zelenskyy, via Reuters
First direct three-way talks sinceFebruary 2026Reuters
Brussels team meetingsWednesday 4 November 2026Zelenskyy, via Interfax
European Commission reconstruction meetingWednesday 4 November 2026Paula Pinho, via Interfax
German-Ukrainian Business Forum, Berlin20 November 2026Merz, via Interfax
Merz’s Kyiv visit where the aid was agreedOctober 2026Merz, via Interfax

Germany’s winter help

The second half of the Berlin press conference was about the winter ahead rather than the negotiating table. Germany is implementing agreements on air defence and energy assistance reached during Merz’s visit to Kyiv in October, Merz said. Two areas are particularly important ahead of winter, he said — air defence and energy — and Germany is now putting those agreements into action. German businesses are also ready to contribute, he added, and cooperation will be deepened at the ninth German-Ukrainian Business Forum in Berlin on 20 November.

Photographers and cameras in front of the Ukrainian and German delegations at a meeting
Photographers watch the delegations during the December 2024 meeting, in a file photo. Photo: President of Ukraine / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0). Source file · Licence

Merz also used the press conference to warn about the Black Sea. Russia, he said, risked further escalation and a global food crisis through its attacks there — a warning that connects directly to one of the Abu Dhabi agenda items, the Black Sea truce to guarantee food exports. If the truce is agreed, it would be about keeping food moving; if it is not, Merz’s warning is a reminder of what is at stake for the poorest countries, which he said would suffer most.

For now, what Berlin produced is a timetable, not an outcome. Brussels meets on Wednesday, Abu Dhabi meets the following week, and the German-Ukrainian business forum follows on 20 November. Whether the sequence narrows the gap between the sides will only become clear when the negotiators actually sit down — and whether the Abu Dhabi meeting happens on the terms Zelenskyy announced will be the first test of that.

Updates & corrections

Published 3 November 2026.

The Berlin press conference took place on 3 November 2026; the Brussels meetings are scheduled for 4 November 2026 and the Abu Dhabi meeting for 10–11 November 2026, as announced at that press conference. No corrections have been made.

Sources

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