• Kremlin says diplomacy to end Ukraine war gained momentum.
• US envoy Witkoff leads talks with Putin, calls “useful” by Kremlin.
• Moscow says it prefers diplomacy but will pursue goals on battlefield.
  

MOSCOW: Ukrainian, US, and Russian officials will hold security talks in the United Arab Emirates today (Friday), the Kremlin said, following a meeting of top US negotiators with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on a US-drafted plan to end the Ukraine war.

Diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have gained pace in recent months, though Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement.

US negotiators, led by envoy Steve Witkoff, talked with the Russian leader in Moscow into the early hours of Friday, according to a Kremlin statement.

Kremlin diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters their discussions had been “useful in every respect”.

Witkoff and the US team are next flying to Abu Dhabi, where talks are expected to continue.

A Russian delegation, headed by General Igor Kostyukov, director of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, will also head there “in the coming hours”, according to Ushakov.

“It was agreed that the first meeting of a trilateral working group on security issues will take place today in Abu Dhabi,” Ushakov added.

“We are genuinely interested in resolving [the conflict] through political and diplomatic means,” he said, but added: “Until that happens, Russia will continue to achieve its objectives… on the battlefield.”

Witkoff previously said he believed the two sides were “down to one issue”, without elaborating.

Video published by the Kremlin showed a smiling Putin shaking hands with Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House advisor Josh Gruenbaum.

The high-stakes meeting came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a draft deal was “nearly, nearly ready” and that he and Trump had agreed on the issue of post-war security guarantees.

He also said the UK and France had already committed to forces on the ground.

Zelensky said Ukraine’s delegation at the UAE meeting would be led by Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Rustem Umerov, and would include Lieutenant General Andriy Gnatov, the chief of staff of Ukrainian armed forces.

Russia, which occupies around 20% of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal.

But Kyiv has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow and says it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from launching a renewed assault.

Europe ‘fragmented’

The full details of the upcoming talks in the United Arab Emirates have not been released, and it is not clear whether the Russian and Ukrainian officials will meet face-to-face.

Zelensky said these talks would last two days.

Trump repeated on Wednesday his oft-stated belief that Putin and Zelensky were close to a deal.

“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 — that goes for both of them,” he said after delivering a speech at Davos.

Zelensky, at his address in Davos, blasted the EU’s lack of “political will” in countering Putin in a fiery address.

“Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” he said.

Trump’s dramatic foreign policy pivots including a recent bid to take over Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — have stirred worries in Europe about whether Washington can be trusted as a reliable security partner.

In his speech, Zelensky criticised Europe for pinning hopes on the United States defending them in case of aggression.

“Europe looks lost trying to convince the US President to change,” Zelensky said.

Russian strikes this week have left most of Kyiv without electricity, with residents of 4,000 buildings without heat in sub-zero temperatures.

Russia, which launched its Ukraine offensive in February 2022, says its strikes are aimed at energy infrastructure fuelling Ukraine’s “military-industrial complex”.

Kyiv says the strikes are a war crime designed to wear down its civilian population.

WASHINGTON: Photographs of fresh bruising on Donald Trump’s hand raised eyebrows on Thursday, but the 79-year-old US president dismissed renewed speculation over his health, saying he had simply hit a table.

Trump has been seen with frequent bruising on his right hand since returning to the White House last year, often concealing it with bandages and make-up.

The White House has said it is due to a combination of frequent handshaking and the aspirin he takes for his cardiovascular health, which can lead to a tendency to bruise easily.

However, photos on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland showed dark bruises in a similar location – but this time on Trump’s left hand.

The images, taken while Trump was at an inaugural ceremony for his global “Board of Peace” initiative, quickly spread on social media.

“I clipped it on the table,” Trump told journalists on Air Force One when asked about the bruising, adding: “I would say, take aspirin if you like your heart, but don’t take aspirin if you don’t want to have a little bruising.”

The White House had earlier played down any concerns, giving the same explanation for the bruise.

Photos from early in the “Board of Peace” event and yesterday show no bruising on the left hand.

Speculation has swirled about Trump’s fitness given his age – he is the oldest person to take office as president – the hand bruising, swelling in his legs, and several apparent moments of dozing off during public events.

The administration disclosed last summer that Trump’s leg swelling had been diagnosed as a symptom of chronic venous insufficiency – a common condition in which faulty vein valves allow blood to pool, causing swelling, cramping and skin changes.

It can be managed with medication or targeted procedures.

An unannounced hospital visit last year added to suspicions of secrecy around his health.

Weeks afterwards, Trump’s doctor said MRI imaging had shown the president to be in “excellent” cardiovascular health.

NUUK: Greenland’s prime minister said Thursday that he was not aware of the contents of a framework agreement about the Danish autonomous territory that US President Donald Trump announced after a meeting with NATO’s chief, but stressed no deal could be made without involving the island.

“Nobody else than Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark have the mandate to make deals or agreements about Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark without us,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a press conference.

“We have some red lines… We have to respect our territorial integrity. We have to respect international law, sovereignty,” he added.

US President Donald Trump backed down on threats to seize Greenland by force after meeting NATO chief Mark Rutte on Wednesday, saying he had reached a “framework” of a deal on the Danish autonomous territory.

Details of the agreement made at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos remain scant.

Nielsen said he was “happy” that Trump had stated that the use of force was off the table, but that he was not aware of the contents of the deal.

“I don’t know what there is in the agreement or the deal about my country,” Nielsen told reporters, noting that he had not been part of the discussions.

A source familiar with the talks between Trump and Rutte told AFP on Thursday said it included a provision that the the United States and Denmark will renegotiate a 1951 defence pact on Greenland.

Putting US military bases on Greenland under US sovereignty had not been discussed during the talks, the source said.

Earlier on Thursday, Greenland’s Deputy Prime Minister Mute Egede said in a post on social media that it was “unacceptable to attempt to hand our land to others”.

Nielsen also said if Greenland had to choose between remaining part of Denmark or joining the US, “we choose the Kingdom of Denmark, we choose the EU, we choose NATO.”