Russia says it will hold security talks with the United States and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Jan. 23 after a meeting between top-level U.S. and Russian officials on Thursday.

A Kremlin spokesperson said that Russian Admiral Igor Kostyukov would lead negotiations for Russia at the three-way security talks, while investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev would meet separately to discuss economic issues with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and a U.S. diplomatic group led by Witkoff met Thursday. After the meeting, Russian officials indicated their territorial disputes—including disputes over control of the Donetsk region of Ukraine—had not been addressed.

The meeting, which included U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Josh Gruenbaum—who was recently appointed by Trump as senior adviser for his Board of Peace—began at the Kremlin shortly before midnight local time and lasted four hours.

Yuri Ushakov, a top Kremlin aide, told reporters that the talks had been “substantive, constructive, and very frank.”

However, Ushakov didn’t suggest that any diplomatic breakthroughs had yet been achieved.

“Most importantly, during these talks between our president and the Americans, it was reiterated that without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage, there is no hope of achieving a long-term settlement,” he said, referring to last year’s summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska.

Trump recently said the potential peace deal was “reasonably close,” and Witkoff suggested that negotiations were narrowing down to one final issue.

Russia said it conducted a patrol of strategic bomber planes minutes before the talks began, which is something the regime does regularly to display strength and deterrence.

Russia’s Tu-22M3 bombers, which Putin has used to fire missiles at Ukrainian cities, energy infrastructure, and military targets, were in the skies above the Baltic Sea for more than five hours while escorted by Russian fighter jets, its defense ministry said.

A short video clip showed Witkoff, Kushner, and Gruenbaum shaking hands with Putin before sitting down at a long oval table.

The meeting marks the seventh time the Russian president has met with Witkoff, with the last such head-to-head taking place in the Russian capital on Dec. 2 last year.

Ahead of the Moscow meeting, Witkoff said that there has been “lots of progress in the last six to eight weeks,” and that ”hopefully we’ll have something good to announce soon.”

He went on to say that he thought the talks were down solely to the issue of land deals at this stage, calling that issue “the 800 lb elephant in the room,” but that “we have some very, very good ideas around that, and hopefully we’ll be able to make some progress there.”

“I just sense that everybody wants a peace there, that it’s time,” he said.

Witkoff’s comments echo remarks made by Trump on Jan. 21, who, after announcing he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Switzerland on Jan. 22, said he is confident that an agreement to put an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine is forthcoming.

“I think I can say that we’re reasonably close,” Trump told reporters after his speech at the WEF in Davos.

“We have to get it stopped. ... I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they don’t, they’re stupid.”

Earlier this week, Zelenskyy said he was ready to travel to Davos should documents on security guarantees with the United States and a prosperity plan be ready to sign there.

The Ukrainian leader had been expected to be at the conference on Jan. 20, but canceled his trip in the wake of an overnight Russian assault on his country, which targeted its already battered energy infrastructure.

The United States has held talks with Russia, and separately with Kyiv and European leaders, on various drafts of a plan for ending the war in Ukraine, but no deal has yet been reached despite Trump’s repeated promises to clinch one.

Diplomatic efforts have intensified as the war closes in on its fourth anniversary, Feb. 24. Trump, who has worked as the mediator, has said Putin “wants to make a deal.”

Past negotiations failed due to “abnormal hatred” between the leaders, said Trump, who added that Zelenskyy was the most recent hurdle to a deal coming together.

In the wake of a Dec. 28, 2025, meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the president said the United States and Ukraine were “a lot closer” to a peace plan despite territorial disputes in Donbas remaining an impediment to peace.

“The land you’re talking about, some of that land has been taken,“ Trump said, referring to one of the main issues in the negotiations that remained unresolved. “Some of that land is maybe up for grabs, but it may be taken over the next period of a number of months.”

Kimberly Hayek and Reuters contributed to this report.