As it t urns out, the meeting at the White House on Thursday, hosted by Melania Trump as a follow-up to the successful humanitarian aid operation at Oleshky, Ukraine, served a greater purpose than it originally seemed.
Donald Trump has announced that he did meet separately with one of the participants, Kremlin special envoy Kirill Dmitriev, to discuss post-war security guarantees for Ukraine, as well as broader European security measures, in an apparent lead-up to the upcoming trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi next week.
Trump said he believed an agreement could be close, and that “It’s going to be a big agreement, and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine . . . I could even say it might involve all of Europe. It’s going to be a big, beautiful agreement, and everyone’s going to be thrilled.” [Reuters, November 6, 2026.]
Yeah . . . well, we’ve heard all of those adjectives before. So we’ll just withhold judgment for now.
Meanwhile, across the ocean in Brussels, White House “adviser” Jared Kushner was engaged in discussions with Ukrainian, NATO, and European officials about a potential security framework. As presently proposed, he said it would include permanent security consultations, crisis communications, greater military transparency, reciprocal measures to reduce escalation risks, and a long-term arrangement for European security and stability. It would also respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every country. And crucially, NATO would remain central to Europe’s collective defense. [Alex Raufoglu, RFE/RL, November 6, 2026.]
Kushner later posted on X:
“Our objective is to develop practical arrangements that address the security concerns of all sides, reduce the risk of future conflict, and create a more stable and predictable security environment. Each country will retain authority over its own security and alliances, and no country would have a veto over another’s sovereign choices.” [Kyiv Post, November 6, 2026.]
That all sounds wonderful, in principle. But on the other side of the table in Abu Dhabi will be a delegation from Moscow, and they will carry with them very clear and immutable directions from Vladimir Putin as to the Kremlin’s position on all of these issues. And there has been no indication that Putin’s demands have softened in the least.
Furthermore, according to Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, there will be no European representatives in Abu Dhabi. So if European security is discussed, will Russia and the United States be presuming to decide Europe’s future between themselves? Or will the meetings focus solely on Ukraine, with European security being relegated to the back burner?
The Abu Dhabi talks are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, November 10th. Hopefully, we’ll know more after that. Meanwhile, the war edges into Day No. 1,717.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
11/7/26
