Ukraine Warupdated 1h ago3 min read
MapRussia, Ukraine and U.S. Hold Trilateral Peace Talks in Abu Dhabi With Medinsky, Witkoff Leading
“However, hopes for a breakthrough remain slim.”
“Moscow and Kyiv were privately showing ‘a little bit of flexibility’ on the issue of who would control Ukraine's eastern regions”
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL · Cropped for layout
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Trilateral talks among Russia, Ukraine and the United States opened in Abu Dhabi. First-day talks lasted about four hours with progress described as productive by US.
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Abu Dhabi trilateral talks
Russia, Ukraine and the United States met in Abu Dhabi for their latest round of trilateral peace talks as President Donald Trump’s administration sought a diplomatic breakthrough after 1,721 days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner led the U.S. delegation, while a source in Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said Kyiv’s delegation was led by Rustem Umerov and included Kyrylo Budanov and Davyd Arakhamia. AP said the talks opened Tuesday in Abu Dhabi and that the two-day session starting Tuesday follows previous rounds earlier this year that failed to produce any visible progress toward ending Europe’s most devastating conflict since World War II.
AP added that the nearly four-hour talks were “constructive and quite substantive,” with Zelenskyy saying they were largely about humanitarian issues including prisoner exchanges and returning Ukrainian civilians in captivity, as well as children taken from the country. Sergey Lavrov told reporters the talks would put “security issues concerning Russia, Ukraine and the region as a whole” at the top of the agenda.
Flexibility, but no breakthrough
Senior officials from Kyiv and Moscow were tight-lipped after the four hour-long discussions due to resume on Wednesday, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the talks had been "very productive".
Jared Kushner told delegates the US had "narrowed the gaps" between the two sides and hoped to move towards a "solution that hopefully ends the war."
Russia’s Sergey Lavrov rejected the idea of a truce, telling reporters, "We will not agree to it," and he said a truce would just allow Kyiv to regroup.
Zelenskyy called the first round constructive and said the two sides had "managed to discuss the necessity and possible parameters of humanitarian measures," including another possible mutual release of prisoners of war.
Zelenskyy also said in a post on Telegram that the U.S. had asked if Kyiv would be willing to "trade the Donbas for security," and he said the U.S. was not willing to accept that Ukraine should become a member of the NATO alliance.
Security guarantees and stakes
Russia has repeatedly rejected U.S.-Ukrainian proposals for a ceasefire under which a final settlement could be negotiated, and it said Moscow is demanding Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Russia also wants Ukraine permanently barred from NATO and to face limits on the size and capabilities of its military, while Zelenskyy said Ukraine cannot agree to any deal that does not include concrete security guarantees from the U.S. and other NATO allies. AP said a second round is expected Wednesday and that security guarantees topped the agenda, while it also reported that the talks come as Russia launched 162 drones of various types and a ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight and Ukraine’s air force said Russia downed 155 Ukrainian drones overnight in eight Russian regions.
A key area of disagreement involves Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk, with Moscow demanding Ukraine relinquish parts it still holds while Kyiv wants to freeze the contact line to maintain control over those areas. The talks concluded the first day in Abu Dhabi and would be resumed tomorrow morning, and it reported that a joint stance after talks reaffirmed that any peace agreement must respect Ukraine's territorial integrity.