Zelenskyy Warns Against Great-Power Deal on Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said technical teams from Ukraine, Russia and the United States were expected to meet in Abu Dhabi from Nov. 6-10 to renew efforts to end the war. The proposed talks put the decisions of governments and their negotiators at the centre of a conflict whose consequences are being measured in missiles, evacuation routes and residents waiting for food and medicine. The venue could change, Zelenskyy said, and no specific date had been set.

Speaking alongside Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten in The Hague, Zelenskyy said he expected more clarity from Washington after the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday. The next move, then, hinges partly on an election and on decisions made by officials far from the people living through the fighting.

Spheres of influence, decided at the top

Zelenskyy warned that a planned meeting between the leaders of Russia, China and the United States next month could give them an opportunity to redraw global spheres of influence. “We really don't want this to turn into 'Yalta 2, 3, 4' with a redistribution of influence,” he told journalists on Wednesday, referring to the 1945 Yalta Conference in Crimea, where Allied powers redrew the world map after the Second World War.

“What China, Russia and the United States might discuss has not yet been clearly defined,” he said. Zelenskyy added that “Russia wants this meeting more than anyone” and warned against giving Moscow “another major diplomatic advantage.” Kyiv wanted the Abu Dhabi talks to take place before the potential summit.

The Kremlin had indicated that preparations were underway for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. and Chinese counterparts, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit next month. The Wall Street Journal first reported the proposed three-way summit earlier that month. It said Trump had not agreed to attend at the time but was open to Putin's proposal because he wanted to end the war in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was confirmed to travel to the United States for a meeting with G20 counterparts in Atlanta on October 30-31. The diplomatic calendar is filling up. The terms of any proposed summit, however, remain unclear.

Aid, missiles and an evacuation

The Dutch government said Wednesday it would provide Ukraine with €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) in non-military support over the next years. Zelenskyy also spoke by phone with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham to thank him for an additional £10 billion ($13.29 billion/€11.94 billion) in support announced earlier Wednesday. Zelenskyy wrote on social media: “A truly strong very timely step coming right Russia needs to and feel that Ukraine will not be left alone to deal with the problems Russia is so eager to escalate.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had received 12 U.S. Patriot air defense missiles a month that year while being targeted with “150 ballistic missiles a month,” and urged Washington to increase supplies. Those figures describe the military imbalance he presented as officials debate further support.

In the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky, a six-day ceasefire began Tuesday and was holding through its first day and night. It was due to last until Sunday, allowing a humanitarian operation to bring food and medicine to around 2,000 remaining residents and evacuate those who wanted to leave. “We are grateful that they are organizing this possibility to evacuate people,” Zelenskyy said. The White House said U.S. first lady Melania Trump helped broker the mission.

Ukraine's negotiator Davyd Arakhamia called the ceasefire “the biggest de-escalation since 2022” and said every step brought peace closer. The report said that, if it held, it would be the first significant truce observed by both sides in more than four years of fighting; previous attempts had quickly unravelled. For Oleshky's residents, the immediate test is whether the route for aid and departure remains open.

The war reaches beyond the negotiating table

Five people, including a four-year-old child, were injured in a Russian drone strike on Kharkiv overnight. Russia's Defense Ministry said air defenses had downed 531 Ukrainian drones Tuesday night into Wednesday morning; authorities in Russia's Belgorod border region said one person was killed in a drone attack.

Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said three maritime drones struck a container ship in the Black Sea off Bulgaria. The crew evacuated, and no casualties were immediately reported, Bulgarian state news agency BTA said. The incident came as defense ministers from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey met in Sofia for trilateral talks on Black Sea security.

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said: “We follow with concern the intense attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea and call on the sides to act with common sense, in line with the principle of navigational safety in open seas.” He added that warnings were being conveyed to both sides to keep commercial navigation out of the conflict zone and halt attacks on civilian vessels. Drone attacks had occurred that month off the coasts of NATO members Romania and Bulgaria. Russia had not accepted responsibility. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev told parliament earlier that month: “The logic points in that direction. The problem is that we cannot prove it.”