Donald Trump is pushing hard for a peace deal - but major issues between Russia and Ukraine are still unresolved, writes Sarah Rainsford.
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Senior officials from all three nations are involved, but it is unclear whether they will be in the same room together at any point. And whilst the talks take a new format, the core differences remain the same.
Donald Trump is pushing hard for a peace deal in Ukraine – the one he promised but hasn't yet delivered – and he said this week that the two sides would be "stupid" if they couldn't agree.
But despite some intense shuttle diplomacy by his own envoys, they are hosting the first trilateral talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators with some major issues still unresolved.
Ukraine is engaging with the process because it wants peace more than anyone, but also because it needs to keep the US onside. It learned that lesson the hard way last year, when Donald Trump briefly suspended intelligence sharing and military aid.
Now, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says his talks with Trump in Davos were "really positive" and he hopes for more air defence support against Russia's relentless attacks as a result.
Often grim-faced after his encounters with the US leader, this time Zelensky seemed unusually upbeat.
But he remains cautious on the outcome of talks in the United Arab Emirates.
He's described the meetings, which may last two days, as "a step", but shied away from calling it a positive one.
"We have to wish it will push us a bit closer to peace," is how he put it.
For a while, Zelensky has talked about being 90% of the way to producing a framework deal for peace, but the final 10% was always going to be the hardest - and Russia could still reject the whole thing.
"It's all about the eastern part of our country. It's all about the land. This is the issue that's not resolved yet," he explained, spe
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