Second day of trilateral negotiations begins in Abu Dhabi as sides seek elusive path to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since WWII.
ABU DHABI: Ukraine, Russia and the United States will begin a second day of high-stakes talks on Thursday.
The negotiations in the Emirati capital represent the latest diplomatic effort to halt Moscow’s nearly four-year invasion.
A first day of trilateral discussions concluded on Wednesday with Kyiv describing them as “substantive and productive”. No major breakthrough was immediately announced.
Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said “concrete steps and practical solutions” had been discussed. The main sticking point remains the long-term fate of occupied territories in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow demands Kyiv pull troops from swathes of the Donbas, including resource-rich cities, as a precondition. It also seeks international recognition for annexed land.
Kyiv has rejected a pull-back, proposing the conflict be frozen along current front lines instead. The Kremlin reiterated its hardline stance, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying fighting would persist “until the Kyiv regime makes the appropriate decisions”.
The human toll of the war was underscored by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He revealed on Wednesday that 55,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed, a rare public assessment of battlefield losses.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and forced millions to flee. Russia has recently intensified strikes on Ukraine’s power infrastructure, leaving many, including in capital Kyiv, without heat in minus 20C temperatures.
These talks are the most public sign of progress in US President Donald Trump’s push to negotiate an end to the war. His envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are mediating.
Zelensky told French television that “Putin is only scared of Trump”. He said the US president could use sanctions or weapons transfers to maintain pressure, but stressed Kyiv would not compromise on sovereignty.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said Kyiv was “interested in finding out what the Russians and Americans really want”. Russia currently occupies around 20% of Ukrainian territory.
Kyiv has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow. It insists it will not sign any deal that fails to deter a future Russian invasion.
