United States First Lady Melania Trump during the Presidential AI Challenge National Champion awards ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Daniel Heuer | Bloomberg | Getty Images Russia confirmed on Tuesday that peace talks with Ukraine and the United States will continue next week in Abu Dhabi, while noting that a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to end the conflict was on the table. Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky will act as Moscow’s chief negotiator at talks in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10 and 11, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a conference call, according to Reuters. Separately, first lady Melania Trump will bring Russian and Ukrainian representatives to the White House to discuss the local ceasefire in Kherson, the White House said Tuesday. A six-day ceasefire ended on Monday in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky and surrounding areas in the Kherson region to allow the evacuation of residents, in a pause in hostilities that the White House said was brokered by the first lady. KHERSON, UKRAINE – OCTOBER 28: During a ceasefire, a man on a bicycle rides past residential buildings previously damaged by Russian attacks on October 28, 2026 in Kherson, Ukraine. (Photo by Ivan Antitypenko/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)Global Images Ukraine | Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images Ukraine on Monday accused Russia of using the ceasefire to reinforce its military positions in the city. The first lady’s summit on Thursday will be “an extraordinary moment in American history,” the White House said, but did not name the representatives who will attend. Melania Trump will deliver remarks on the Oleshky ceasefire at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, he added. Peskov also said Tuesday that the Kremlin hopes to finalize plans for a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, the United States and China in the coming days. The comments follow earlier reports that these countries were planning to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the table. Zelenskyy has said that any negotiations on Ukraine’s future must include kyiv. “It can only be acceptable when we are at the negotiating table,” he said on October 20, adding that he had discussed the proposal for a tripartite meeting between the United States, China and Russia to negotiate an end to a large-scale war that has lasted almost five years. “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” he said. Read more from CNBC’s Russia-Ukraine coverage: Tensions between the United States and Ukraine have risen in recent weeks amid continued attacks between Moscow and kyiv, including against civilian and energy targets. A series of actions taken by the Trump administration in October raised questions about Washington’s reliability as kyiv’s most important military partner. Tuesday’s announcement comes after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said late Monday that Washington will mediate peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10-11, focusing on security agreements, de-escalation and humanitarian issues. Witkoff also said American negotiators will meet with European and NATO officials in Brussels this week to discuss postwar security guarantees and the reconstruction of Ukraine.
