United States Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian and Ukrainian officials in Abu Dhabi on Monday in efforts to advance a peace deal to end the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. The discussions are scheduled to continue on Tuesday.
The talks follow negotiations over the weekend in Geneva, where United States and Ukrainian officials revised a previously contentious 28-point plan into a 19-point framework more favorable to Kyiv. Key politically sensitive decisions remain for the presidents of both countries to settle.
Budanov, who has overseen Ukraine's covert operations inside Russia, is part of an official delegation authorized to negotiate directly with the United States and Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said negotiators had made progress and that "necessary steps to end the war can become doable," though further work remains.