The United States will mediate working-level negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, the administration's special envoy said, as the White House prepared to host a separate meeting on a local ceasefire in southern Ukraine.

"The United States will mediate working-level negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on November 10-11 in Abu Dhabi, advancing President Trump's mission to end the war," Steve Witkoff wrote on X. "Discussions will focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts."

Russia confirmed on Tuesday that Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide, would serve as Moscow's chief negotiator at the talks in the United Arab Emirates.

A second track at the White House

Separately, first lady Melania Trump will bring Russian and Ukrainian representatives to the White House to discuss a local ceasefire in Kherson, according to the White House. Officials described Thursday's meeting as "an extraordinary moment in American history" but did not name the representatives who will attend.

Melania Trump is expected to deliver remarks on the Oleshky ceasefire at 11 a.m.

The two tracks are different in kind. The Abu Dhabi talks are described as working-level negotiations on security arrangements, de-escalation and humanitarian issues. The White House meeting is narrower, focused on a local truce around Kherson and the evacuation corridor that has allowed civilians to leave Russian-occupied territory.

The battlefield context

Diplomacy is moving while the war continues. Ukraine accused Russia on Monday of using the ceasefire to reinforce its military positions in the city, a charge that underscores how fragile local arrangements have been.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, said it hopes to finalise plans for a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, the United States and China in the coming days. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave no date for such a summit.

For Kyiv, the diplomatic push comes at a sensitive moment. The Trump administration raised questions in October about Washington's reliability as Ukraine's most important military partner, and European allies have been trying to work out how much of the security burden they can carry themselves.

What the talks can deliver

The agenda announced for Abu Dhabi is deliberately modest: security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian issues. None of those phrases commits either side to a ceasefire, and working-level talks of this kind often produce technical understandings rather than breakthroughs.

The presence of Medinsky is significant. He has been one of Moscow's most visible negotiators in earlier rounds, and his appointment suggests the Kremlin wants the talks to be seen as serious without conceding that they are decisive.

The White House meeting carries its own symbolism. A first lady hosting representatives of two warring states is unusual, and it gives the administration a humanitarian frame that is easier to sell domestically than a security guarantee.

The wider picture

The announcement lands in a week dominated by the American midterm elections, when the administration's foreign policy is being argued about at home as much as abroad. It also follows months of shuttle diplomacy in which the United States has tried to keep both Kyiv and Moscow engaged without committing to the security guarantees Ukraine says it needs.

European capitals will be watching closely. Any arrangement that freezes the front line without a enforcement mechanism would be difficult for Kyiv to accept, and any arrangement that requires American troops would be difficult for Washington to sell. That gap is the reason the talks are described as working-level rather than leaders' talks.

What to watch

Three things matter in the next fortnight: whether the Abu Dhabi meeting actually takes place with both delegations at the table, whether the White House names the participants in Thursday's meeting, and whether the local ceasefire around Kherson holds while the broader diplomacy continues.

The war's human cost remains the backdrop. Russian strikes on Ukrainian towns have continued, including an attack on an aid centre in Komyshuvakha, and the evacuation of civilians from occupied Oleshky has shown how narrow these local arrangements can be. Meanwhile Western allies keep supplying air-defence interceptors even as they argue about how the war should end.

For now, the diplomacy is real but limited: two meetings, one announced agenda, and no ceasefire in sight beyond local arrangements that have already been tested. Both sides still describe the other as the obstacle, and neither has moved on the questions that matter most. The gap between what has been announced and what would be required for a durable settlement remains wide: territorial questions, security guarantees and sanctions relief have not been put on the table publicly, and neither capital has signalled that it is ready to compromise on them. Working-level talks can build habits of contact; they cannot by themselves end a war. European governments, which have been asked to contribute to any future security arrangement, are likely to want a clearer American commitment before they sign up to anything themselves. That is the question the Abu Dhabi meeting will not answer, and the one that will decide whether these talks are a beginning or another round of process.