Russia and Ukraine open US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi

The latest:

Russian and Ukrainian delegations sat down in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for their first US-brokered negotiations since February, with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner mediating a session scheduled to run two days. Russian state agency RIA reported the start of the talks. The meeting follows President Donald Trump’s assertion last week that a broad deal covering both the war and European security was within reach.

Details:

• The format: The talks were hosted by the United Arab Emirates and convened by Washington, according to Reuters, with the agenda covering an end to the fighting, post-war security arrangements and de-escalation. Trump’s envoys Witkoff and Kushner are mediating directly between the two delegations over two scheduled days.
• Europe’s push: Kyiv’s chief negotiator Rustem Umerov said Ukrainian officials held separate meetings with European, NATO and EU representatives and the two American envoys before the main session, adding that Ukraine was working to ensure Europe takes part in the process.
• Moscow’s position: Russia made clear it saw no place for European representatives at the meeting with the Ukrainians and Americans, Reuters reported. A source in the Russian delegation said Moscow believed the main thrust of the talks would be hammering out key elements of a new post-war security framework for Europe.
• The French line: Paris said there could be no lasting peace in Ukraine without addressing European security, and that doing so required the involvement of the Europeans. The new American drive for a deal has pushed European officials to seek a seat at the table.
• Trump’s framing: On the eve of the talks, Trump said Washington was seeing a very strong inclination towards ending the war and that both sides were tired of fighting. He predicted a peace deal could emerge soon after meeting privately at the White House last week with an envoy of Vladimir Putin.
• The territorial gap: Publicly there has been no sign Putin will drop his demand that Ukraine surrender the entire eastern Donbas before any deal. Volodymyr Zelenskiy has refused to hand over land Ukrainian forces died defending. Russian front-line advances have slowed to a virtual halt this year.
• Kyiv’s leverage claim: Zelenskiy said in his nightly address Monday that Ukrainian forces were strengthening the country’s negotiating position, citing the recapture of territory in Donetsk. He said Russia was suffering “record losses” — a claim Moscow disputes — and urged Washington to press the Kremlin.
• The compromise theory: A US official told Reuters that negotiators believe Zelenskiy and Putin may each be willing to cede a little on territory. Under the proposed deal, Ukraine would receive an end to the war, security guarantees and a roadmap to EU accession.
• The denial: A senior Ukrainian official strongly denied the government would consider any such concessions, telling Reuters that territory could be discussed only at leaders’ level and only alongside appropriate security guarantees for Ukraine.
• The backdrop: More than four and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Russian forces hold about a fifth of Ukraine. Negotiations revived in recent weeks after months in which Washington’s attention was absorbed by the war in Iran.

Between the lines:

The gap between Trump’s optimism and the delegations’ stated positions is visible in the material itself: Washington floats a mutual territorial compromise while a senior Ukrainian official rules it out and Putin keeps his Donbas demand. Russia’s refusal to seat Europeans, set against its interest in a continental security framework, suggests Moscow wants the architecture negotiated without the architects present.

What’s next

The second day of the Abu Dhabi talks is scheduled for Wednesday. Watch whether Europeans gain formal entry to the process, whether territory is deferred to a leaders’ meeting, and whether Moscow restates the Donbas demand.