Senior officials from Russia, Ukraine and the US are convening in Abu Dhabi as part of Washington's bid to broker peace talks to end the ongoing conflict. Ahead of the trilateral, US President Donald Trump expressed optimism regarding the discussions, even as military attacks continue between Moscow and Kyiv.
As the war approaches its five-year mark, the two-day session in the United Arab Emirates marks the first round of talks between Russia and Ukraine since February, when the two sides met in Geneva. Both nations have dispatched veteran negotiators to the meetings, selecting high-ranking officials with prior experience in previous peace summits.
The Russian delegation is being led by a close aide to President Vladimir Putin who has directed Moscow's negotiating team since the March 2022 Istanbul talks. The group also features Deputy Foreign Ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, Military Intelligence Chief Igor Kostyukov, and Yuri Zhigarlovsky, the deputy chief of the General Staff's operational department.
The Ukrainian delegation is headed by Rustem Umerov, the chief of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service and a veteran of earlier negotiations. Reports indicate the team also includes Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov, his deputy Sergiy Kyslytsya, and Davyd Arakhamia, the parliamentary leader of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party.
A key area of disagreement between Russia and Ukraine involves territorial control. Putin demands that Ukraine surrender four regions that Moscow annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured, namely Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. He also demands that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO, accept strict limits on its military, and drop restrictions on the Russian language and the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church.
Furthermore, Putin insists on a complete peace deal based strictly on Russian terms and refuses a temporary ceasefire, arguing that a pause would only allow Ukrainian troops to rest and restock their arsenal. However, Zelenskyy has rejected demands to cede occupied territories or restrict the Ukrainian military. Ukraine insists that an immediate ceasefire must be the first step toward wider peace settlements and maintains that a direct meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy is the only way to resolve territorial disputes.
Despite the diplomatic push, military hostilities continued as the talks commenced. A Ukrainian drone attack disrupted power supplies to the city of Luhansk and other parts of the Russian-controlled region, according to reports quoting local authorities. Simultaneously, the Russian defense ministry stated that its forces had struck a cargo vessel and a tanker in the Black Sea, with another cargo vessel reportedly hit east of the port of Odesa.
US President Donald Trump has expressed optimism over the trilateral talks, noting that both countries appear weary of the conflict. Trump's son-in-law and member of the US delegation, Jared Kushner, stated on social media that a comprehensive and lasting settlement will ultimately require direct engagement between Russia and European partners regarding broader security arrangements. He added that the Abu Dhabi discussions are intended to set the stage for that broader multilateral process to begin in the near future.