U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is holding talks with a Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi, U.S. and British media reported Tuesday, days after American and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva for discussions aimed at ending the war.
Driscoll had already met with the Russian side on Monday, according to the reports, with talks expected to continue on Tuesday.
The Financial Times reported that Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, would attend the talks, though it gave no details on the Russian delegation.
"Driscoll has been involved with this peace process pretty hot and heavy in the past few days," an unnamed U.S. official told the Financial Times. "Obviously, Ukraine knows what's going on, they knew where he was coming" after Geneva, the official added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm the meetings.
"I have nothing to say. We are following the media reports," Peskov told Russian state media.
Washington has been pressing Kyiv to consider a new peace plan that Ukrainian officials say would concede too much to Moscow. The original 28-point U.S. proposal would require Ukraine to give up control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east and reduce the size of its military, terms that authorities in Kyiv have repeatedly rejected.
Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials met in Geneva on Sunday to draft an "updated" version of the plan. The Kremlin said Monday that it would not accept amendments put forward by European leaders.
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