“Secretary Driscoll met with members of the Russian delegation [Monday night] few hours in Abu Dhabi. He is scheduled to meet them again throughout the day [Tuesday] to discuss the peace process and move peace negotiations forward quickly,” a US official told CBS News.
It is not clear who else is in the US delegation in Abu Dhabi.
The meetings take place in the middle of a intensification of pressure by President Trump to broker a ceasefire in the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine, with US officials holding talks with envoys from both countries.
Over the weekend, Driscoll, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and diplomats from Ukraine and European allies attended lectures in Geneva, Switzerland.
Driscoll’s meeting with Russian officials follows his own visit to the capital of Ukraine last week.
It is still unclear how close the two parties are to a deal.
Last week, CBS News obtained a draft of a proposal backed by the Trump administration. The proposed plan included several provisions that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected in the past, including territorial concessions by Ukraine and an end to the country’s push to join NATO.
Saturday, a group of NATO members and other U.S. allies released a joint statement calls the proposed plan “a foundation that will require additional work.”
The White House said in a statement Sunday evening that U.S. and Ukrainian officials had “established an updated and refined peace framework” following the Geneva discussions.
Mr. Trump has pressured Zelenskyy to reach an agreement Thanksgivingalthough Rubio described that deadline as flexible on Sunday.
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