Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the US are due to meet in Abu Dhabi for their first trilateral talks since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Senior officials from all three nations are involved, but it is unclear whether they will be in the same room together at any point. And whilst the talks take a new format, the core differences remain the same.
The stakes are high, but expectations are limited.
Donald Trump is pushing hard for a peace deal in Ukraine – the one he promised but hasn't yet delivered – and he said this week that the two sides would be "stupid" if they couldn't agree.
But despite some intense shuttle diplomacy by his own envoys, they are hosting the first trilateral talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators with some major issues still unresolved.
