A Kremlin aide said on Sunday, November 1, that Russian President Vladimir Putin would answer if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky phoned him. Kyiv's response was that Zelensky has no plans to call. The exchange came as the three governments expected at a planned round of talks in Abu Dhabi, Ukraine, Russia and the United States, still had not fixed a date. It also followed a cautious public assessment from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio [Funding: campaign funding data not verified], who said in Atlanta on Saturday that he did not know whether a negotiated peace was achievable.
The weekend produced statements rather than decisions. It did show where each side stands before the talks, which Kyiv expects between November 6 and 10 and Moscow says cannot begin before November 4, and it exposed an argument among Washington's allies over whether talking to Moscow or isolating it is more likely to end the war.
What the Kremlin said on Sunday
Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, spoke to the Russian state television program Vesti. Asked whether Putin would take a call from Zelensky, he said: "I think he would answer, of course. Putin has never refused conversations," according to the Kyiv Post's translation. RBC-Ukraine reported that Ushakov repeated Moscow's offer for Zelensky to come to the Russian capital: "He is sending signals through various channels. If he wants to talk so much, if he wants negotiations so badly, let him come."
The same RBC-Ukraine report said the Ukrainian Presidential Office had indicated that Zelensky was not planning to call Putin. Its view was that the central questions of ending the war must be settled at the leaders' level, but that a phone call alone would not be enough to reach agreements.
Ushakov's claim that Putin "has never refused" talks is his characterization, and the public record is more mixed. The Kremlin has repeatedly invited Zelensky to Moscow, a venue Kyiv rejects. But it has also turned down specific proposals for other venues. According to the Kyiv Post's account of the diplomatic record, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called a meeting on the sidelines of December's G20 summit in the United States "impossible." The Kremlin also dismissed Zelensky's June proposal for a summit in a neutral country. RFE/RL noted that Putin has said the two presidents could meet only once a comprehensive deal is agreed. Willingness to accept a call and willingness to meet on terms the other side accepts are separate questions.
Kyiv's position: a leaders' meeting, not a call
Ushakov was responding in part to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. In an interview with the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, reported by the Kyiv Post on October 30, Sybiha said: "We want this meeting, and we are ready for it. Probably only a meeting between Zelensky and Putin can bring a new quality to the negotiations. Zelensky is ready to discuss the most difficult and sensitive issues, including the territorial question."
Sybiha ruled out Moscow and Belarus as venues and called the Moscow invitation "not serious." He said the Abu Dhabi talks "will show whether Russia has serious intentions to end the war through diplomatic means," adding that Kyiv currently saw no signs of such intentions.
Kyiv's position on territory has two parts. According to the Kyiv Post, Zelensky has said Ukraine is prepared to freeze fighting along the current front lines but will never legally recognize occupied areas as Russian. He has also said Russian forces occupy 19.3 percent of Ukraine. Russia, meanwhile, continues to demand that Ukraine cede the parts of the eastern Donbas region it has not captured, The Kyiv Independent reported. The New Voice of Ukraine, citing a Reuters report from a source close to the Kremlin, said Putin rejected compromises on Donbas during an October 27 call with Finnish and Norwegian leaders. 567politics has not independently seen that Reuters report.
The Abu Dhabi talks: what is and is not settled
Zelensky has given the most specific timetable. In an interview with the American journalist Tony Perkins, reported by Ukrinform late on October 31, he said technical-level talks could take place between November 6 and 10, with Abu Dhabi tentatively chosen. "I do not know if it will be exactly these dates or exactly in Abu Dhabi, but we will support this," he said, citing "a lot of challenges in the Middle East." He credited the U.S. with proposing the November meeting.
Moscow's version is less definite. Ushakov said on October 28 that the meeting would come "after 4 November," the Russian National Unity Day holiday. He added: "And it will also depend on the situation on the battlefield and the situation in general," according to The New Voice of Ukraine. He said Russia's "core team" was assembled but its delegation was not final.
Three points remain open:
- The date. Zelensky said he expected Washington to confirm around November 4, the day after the U.S. midterm elections. "I think that they'll be ready with all the answers after the elections," he said in The Hague on October 28, as quoted by The Kyiv Independent. As of Sunday afternoon in New York, 567politics found no U.S. announcement of a date.
- The venue. Zelensky discussed Turkey as a possible host with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul on Saturday, LB.ua reported. The Kyiv Post said Switzerland was also under discussion.
- Europe's role. Ushakov said European participation was not under discussion: "There is absolutely no talk of that at this point." Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Heorhii Tykhyi, said on October 30 that Europe would take part in the wider process but not sit in the trilateral group, UNN reported. He said security guarantees, a ceasefire and reconstruction could not be resolved without European states.
Ukrainian officials do not expect a breakthrough. The technical agenda is expected to include a possible energy and maritime ceasefire, exchanges of military and civilian captives, and the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia, according to The Kyiv Independent. Zelensky has said territorial decisions can be made only by leaders.
Rubio: "I don't know if negotiated peace is achievable" [Funding: campaign funding data not verified]
The most closely watched U.S. statement of the weekend came at the close of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta on October 31. Our October 30 briefing covered the start of that meeting. Asked by RFE/RL whether a settlement was possible given Moscow's unchanged position, Rubio said: "I don't know if negotiated peace is achievable in Ukraine. That's what we're trying to find out. I don't think anyone here is claiming that we're on the verge of a negotiated settlement," RFE/RL reported. [Funding: campaign funding data not verified]
RFE/RL also cited three European officials, speaking anonymously, who said Rubio had privately expressed doubts about a deal in the coming months. They said he had also expressed doubts that Putin would attend the Miami G20 summit on December 14-15. The Kyiv Post, summarizing that reporting, framed the private view as doubt that Putin would agree to a settlement before spring 2027. The officials said Rubio called near-term NATO membership for Ukraine unrealistic and warned that Russia taking all of Donbas "will not end Russian appetite." The State Department did not immediately respond to RFE/RL's request for comment on the reported private remarks. These accounts are anonymous and second-hand. [Funding: campaign funding data not verified] [Funding: campaign funding data not verified]
Publicly, Rubio named a narrower goal: a ceasefire covering Black Sea shipping, which he tied to global food and energy security. President Donald Trump, asked at Mar-a-Lago on Halloween whether Zelensky would also be invited to Miami, replied, "Yes, no problem," according to the Kyiv Post. [Funding: campaign funding data not verified] [Funding: campaign funding data not verified]
The case for engaging Moscow now
The Trump administration's argument is that a settlement requires talking to both sides. "How can you have a negotiated settlement between Russia and Ukraine if you don't have the ability to talk to both Russia and Ukraine?" Rubio asked reporters in Atlanta, according to RFE/RL. He said Trump did not regard meeting a foreign leader as legitimizing that leader's actions. He also cited Russia's nuclear arsenal: "It is always important that the United States and Russia have communications at some level because of the danger of escalation in the future." [Funding: campaign funding data not verified]
On October 22, Rubio described the war as a dispute over "11 percent of one part of that country that Russia wants and cannot take militarily and that Ukraine is unwilling to give up," and said, "This war is only going to end diplomatically," as quoted by the Kyiv Post. [Funding: campaign funding data not verified]
Some European leaders who strongly back Ukraine also favor keeping a channel open. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held a roughly 90-minute call with Putin on October 27. Stubb told Yle the call was made at Ukraine's request, the Kyiv Post reported, and that it gave the EU its first direct, unmediated message from Moscow on the war. He was explicit that this was not neutrality: "Finland does not act as a mediator, but supports Ukraine 100 percent. We also conveyed this message to President Putin."
Supporters of engagement can point to one small result. A localized ceasefire brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump let civilians leave the occupied city of Oleshky; RFE/RL reported the evacuation was complete by November 1. The Kremlin said the Oleshky ceasefire should not be read as a model for the wider settlement.
The case for pressure and isolation
The opposing argument is that engagement without pressure gives Moscow little reason to compromise. This position does not follow U.S. party lines. On September 25, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and 13 senators of both parties, including Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, wrote to Trump urging him to rescind Putin's G20 invitation. "If President Putin and his government are not isolated on the international stage, what incentive does Russia have to agree to a ceasefire?" they wrote. Republican Rep. Don Bacon wrote on X before the Atlanta meeting that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "should not be allowed in the country," the Kyiv Post reported. [Funding: tracked energy-related PAC receipts $0.00 (2026 cycle; retrieved 2026-10-31; partial topic registry)] [FEC source] [Funding: tracked energy-related PAC receipts $0.00 (2026 cycle; retrieved 2026-11-01; partial topic registry)] [FEC source] [Funding: tracked energy-related PAC receipts $0.00 (2026 cycle; retrieved 2026-10-31; partial topic registry)] [FEC source]
Funding context for the senator who led the letter: 567politics' Federal Election Commission snapshot for Shaheen's principal campaign committee (C00457325, 2026 cycle, retrieved October 31, 2026) lists PAC receipts on line 11C. They include $3,300 from the CACI International PAC, $2,500 from the AeroVironment PAC and $1,000 from the General Dynamics PAC, all dated January and February 2025 in FEC Schedule A records, which 567politics checked against the FEC's public API. These are employee PACs, not corporate treasury funds. The snapshot excludes individual and conduit donations and is not a total of all money raised. The FEC lists Shaheen's 2026 candidacy as inactive. Contributions do not show that any donor shaped the letter, which was co-signed by senators from both parties. McConnell's snapshot (committee C00193342, retrieved November 1) lists $15,000 from two PACs, the Freedom Fund and Tomorrow Is Meaningful PAC, and no defense-contractor PACs; it is similarly partial.
In Europe, several leaders argue that Moscow is not ready to negotiate. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters in Atlanta that Russia did not appear ready, pointing to the intensity of its attacks, according to RFE/RL. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that separate national outreach risks splitting European unity, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he had low expectations, the Kyiv Post reported. Those leaders come from different political families: Frederiksen leads the center-left Social Democrats and Kristersson the center-right Moderates.
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, of the liberal Reform Party, went further after Reuters reported that Pentagon officials had privately asked Baltic allies to tone down their warnings about Russia. Reuters, as published by Defense News, cited four people familiar with the messages, who said Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby told a Baltic official there should be no "poking" of Russia. A Pentagon official declined to comment on private conversations. Michal said no such request had reached him directly. He told Estonia's public broadcaster ERR: "pleasing dictators or remaining silent is certainly not the solution. Rather, we must continue the pressure and support Ukraine – that is the only way to force Putin to change his objectives."
Sybiha, whose government supports the talks, also voiced concern about the U.S. approach. He said the Trump administration had moved toward accommodating Russian demands, citing what he described as pressure for a change in Ukraine's leadership, sanctions relief and renewed U.S. purchases of Russian diesel, according to the Kyiv Post. He also said "it is not realistic to end the war without them." These are Sybiha's characterizations; 567politics has not independently verified the claimed U.S. pressure on Ukraine's leadership.
The war around the diplomacy
The diplomatic signals came during a heavy week of strikes. In a Telegram post on Sunday, reported by Ukrinform, Zelensky said Russia had launched 1,940 attack drones, more than 1,580 guided aerial bombs and 44 missiles, including 36 ballistic missiles, over the past week. He said Russia was "trying to take maximum advantage of the shortage of ballistic missile interceptors." Overnight attacks hit energy infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr and Khmelnytskyi regions, leaving hundreds of thousands of households without power, he said. These figures come from the Ukrainian government and were not independently verified by 567politics.
Ukraine is also striking inside Russia. The governor of Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region reported a "massive drone attack" that caused "significant damage" at an industrial site, RFE/RL reported. The Reuters report above said the U.S. push for talks has included pressure on Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian energy facilities.
European aid has continued alongside the talks: the Netherlands pledged an extra €500 million in military support this winter and Britain announced a £10 billion package, Al Jazeera reported. Our report on European security debates in London and Dublin covers the wider argument in Britain and Ireland over defense cooperation with the EU.
What to watch
- A date from Washington. Zelensky expects confirmation around November 4. A missed window would suggest the technical round is slipping.
- Who sits at the table. Whether any European representative attends, and in what role, will test Ushakov's statement against Tykhyi's and Stubb's.
- Black Sea and energy. A limited maritime or energy ceasefire is the outcome U.S., Ukrainian and Turkish officials have named. Moscow has said it is not seeking partial measures.
- Leader-level contact. The Kremlin says Putin would answer a call; Kyiv says a call is not enough. The next sequencing point is the APEC meeting in Shenzhen on November 18-19, where Ushakov has said preparations are under way for a Putin-Trump-Xi meeting, according to the Kyiv Post.
What we don't know
Several of the weekend's most quoted claims rest on anonymous or second-hand sourcing: Rubio [Funding: campaign funding data not verified]'s reported private remarks, the Pentagon messages to Baltic governments and the Reuters account of Putin's position on Donbas. Strike and damage figures come from the two warring governments. 567politics found no representative polling from Ukraine, Russia or the United States fielded in the past week on the Abu Dhabi talks, so this article does not describe public opinion. Sources and labels are explained in our methodology.