Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the US are due to meet in Abu Dhabi for their first trilateral talks since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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.
The stakes are high, but expectations are limited.
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 defense 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, spelling out the biggest obstacle that he says still remains.
Russia insists that Ukraine should hand over the big slice of the eastern Donbas region, which it has failed to win on the battlefield. Ukraine refuses.
Politics can often be about red lines, but for Ukraine, the line in the Donbas is drawn with the blood of soldiers who died defending it. Zelensky can't cross it.
As I write this, music from another soldier's funeral is drifting up from a church in the street. On my way back into Ukraine this time, we drove passed so many military graves in roadside cemeteries, all marked with flags.
Another significant topic for discussion is the US's military response to any future Russian aggression. Ukraine regards this as essential security guarantees. Zelensky says the deal between the US and Ukraine is done, but we have no real details.
How Russia will respond remains uncertain. He really doesn't want it, is what Zelensky said in Davos about Putin and peace. The Kremlin has stated that if it doesn't get what it wants at the negotiating table, it will pursue its goals on the battlefield - a strategy that has proven costly and ineffective thus far.
The recent Russian strikes have caused significant humanitarian distress across Ukraine, leaving civilians without power or water in freezing temperatures. The mayor of Kyiv has urged residents to evacuate if possible as conditions worsen.
