Russia's Dmitriev says progress made on Ukraine peace deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Thursday that there was progress and a positive movement forward in negotiations on peace in Ukraine, as delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States prepared for talks in Abu Dhabi.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in the east, triggering the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two and biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.

Dmitriev, Putin's envoy on investment who has played a central role in U.S.-mediated negotiations on Ukraine, said that "warmongers" from Europe and Britain were "constantly trying to interfere with this process, constantly trying to meddle in it".

"And the more such attempts there are, the more we see that progress is definitely being made," he told reporters ahead of the talks. "There is positive movement forward."

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He said active work was underway on restoring relations with the United States, including within the framework of a U.S.-Russia working group on economy.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took part in the previous meeting of the working group in Miami on January 31 along with Dmitriev, U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.