Nov 4 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Spain on Wednesday for talks on boosting Kyiv’s air defences and top-level meetings during the Ibero-American summit, the Ukrainian president said on the Telegram messaging app.
Zelenskiy, shown online being greeted as he stepped off his aircraft, also said he planned to speak with US officials in the run-up to planned three-way talks in Abu Dhabi next week, which will include Russia.
“Over these coming days, contacts with the American side are also planned,” Zelenskiy wrote. “We’re coordinating with our partners to achieve concrete results on security issues and the next steps toward peace.”
US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff said on Monday that the United States would bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 to discuss ending the war against Ukraine, post-war security agreements and de-escalation.
In his comments on Telegram, Zelenskiy said his talks in Madrid would focus on boosting the air defences that Ukraine needs to counter Russian air strikes in the run-up to winter.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s office said he would meet Zelenskiy on Thursday.
Zelenskiy held talks in Germany before flying to Spain.
(Reporting by Jesus Aguado, Emma Pinedo, writing by Andrei Khalip and Ron Popeski; Editing by Nia Williams)
