Trump’s Latest Push To End Bloody Ukraine War Faces Same Thorny Obstacles

Russia and Ukraine are preparing to resume American-brokered peace negotiations in November after months of stalled diplomacy, with President Donald Trump still facing the same obstacles that brought earlier talks to a grinding halt.

Negotiating teams from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv are expected to meet in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, during the first half of November, Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The diplomatic breakthrough follows meetings between Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the leaders of both warring nations, although major disagreements over territory and security guarantees remain unresolved, The Associated Press reported.

The Russian Embassy in Washington and the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

Many experts doubt the negotiations will bring an end to the war.

“The upcoming negotiations are unlikely to produce a full peace agreement as Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on post-war territory and security arrangements central to a final deal,” Jordan Embree, senior research associate at the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, told the DCNF. “The Kremlin’s recalcitrance about moderating hostilities beyond Oleshky combined with Ukraine’s calculated willingness to continue the fight in pursuit of better terms are the greatest obstacles to a settlement.”

“Upcoming negotiations are very unlikely to produce an agreement, but that does not mean that the talks shouldn’t be pursued,” Matthew Wallin, chief executive officer of the American Security Project, told the DCNF. “Russia’s demands on Ukraine to end the war, like capping the size of its military, giving up vital strategic defensive positions, or abandoning its aspirations to join defensive alliances like NATO, would effectively equate to a national suicide pact by the Ukrainian government.”

A breakthrough peace agreement would represent a major political victory for Trump, who repeatedly pledged during his 2024 presidential campaign to end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office.

“Shortly after we all together win the Presidency, we will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on July 29, 2023, according to the American Presidency Project. “It will be settled. The war is going to be settled. I’ll get them both. I know Zelinsky, I know Putin. It’ll be done within 24 hours.”

“If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours,” Trump said during a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on May 10, 2023, according to the CNN transcript.