US President Donald Trump has suggested that Ukraine's borders could change under a peace deal with Russia, saying the country will end the war with a "little bit different shape". In an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday, he said he believed the war would end soon and that he was very close to making a deal, but he did not say which territorial changes he had in mind.

Trump blamed the hatred between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the lack of a deal so far, and said he did not think Putin was deliberately stalling. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on 8 November that Trump was probably alluding to progress on security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe, adding that there had been advances in what that architecture could look like after the conflict.

Europe seeks a seat at the talks

Trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States are scheduled for 10 and 11 November in Abu Dhabi, focusing on post-war security arrangements and de-escalation. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told RTL radio on 8 November that France would attend and make Europe's voice heard, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would be present in Abu Dhabi alongside its partners.

Kyiv and Moscow remain far apart on territory. Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine withdraw from four regions Moscow claimed to annex in 2022, despite never fully controlling them, and wants Kyiv to drop its NATO ambitions and accept limits on its armed forces. Ukraine rejects ceding any territory and insists on credible security guarantees, and says territorial questions could ultimately be settled only in direct talks between Zelensky and Putin.