Brussels hosts Ukraine talks ahead of Abu Dhabi round

The European Commission will host Ukraine talks in Brussels on Wednesday 4 November, with Ukraine, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, NATO and the World Bank. The Commission said the meeting will build on earlier talks held in Miami, at senior official level, with the European side represented by national security advisers. On 3 November, Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho confirmed the Brussels meeting. She said the talks will focus on Ukraine's post-war reconstruction and prosperity. Delegations are also reported to be discussing a prosperity plan and security guarantees, though that part of the agenda has not been confirmed by the Commission. Pinho said she had no information about President Volodymyr Zelenskyy taking part on Wednesday.

What is on the agenda

Three linked questions sit at the centre: how Ukraine rebuilds, what economic support follows, and what security promises back any settlement. Ukraine's Rustem Umerov, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, said security, recovery and development must form a single plan for Ukraine after the war. He described Brussels as a continuation of peace talks held earlier in October in Miami and Oslo, with Ukrainian teams from the economy, finance and defence ministries and the Presidential Office. Umerov described a two-day format, while the 4 November Commission meeting and the 5 November NATO-hosted session are also presented as separate sessions. A separate session on security guarantees follows on Thursday 5 November, with representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and NATO. NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said the alliance will host further talks on Thursday, with France, Germany, Britain and the United States discussing a just and sustainable end to the war.

Why Brussels comes first

Brussels is a coordination step before direct talks with Russia. US envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington will bring Ukrainian and Russian delegations together in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November for working-level talks, mediated by the United States, on ending the war, post-war security agreements, de-escalation and humanitarian measures. No European participation in the first Abu Dhabi round has been announced.

Date	Meeting	Focus
4 November	Brussels, European Commission	Reconstruction, prosperity plan, security guarantees
5 November	Brussels, security-guarantees session	Security guarantees for Ukraine
10-11 November	Abu Dhabi, US-mediated	Ukraine-Russia talks, post-war security, de-escalation

What happens next

Watch for a Brussels statement on 4 November on the prosperity plan, and the outcome of the security session on 5 November. Those two days will shape what the United States carries into Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November, when Ukrainian and Russian delegations meet under US mediation. No agreement has been announced yet. 📷 Illustration: AI-generated