Representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the United States held talks at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) yesterday in the first round of trilateral negotiations on resolving the Moscow-Kyiv crisis. It was the first meeting attended by all three countries since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began nearly four years ago.
US officials said the talks were productive and will continue today as well, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian President Vladimir Putin must be ready to end the war he started. As the first day of landmark peace talks concluded last evening, Mr Zelensky, in a social media post, said it was too early to draw conclusions from the trilateral meeting. He said they will see how the conversation develops today and what results it produces.
However, the key sticking point remains territorial issues, including Russia’s demand that Ukraine give up 25 per cent of the Donetsk region, which Kyiv still controls. The trilateral meeting comes following a long meeting between President Vladimir Putin and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow, which Russia described as useful.
Earlier, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan welcomed the start of negotiations and said sustainable solutions to conflicts can only be achieved through dialogue and de-escalation.
On the Russian side, the delegation in Abu Dhabi is being led by General Igor Kostyukov, director of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, while Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev will meet US envoy Steve Witkoff separately to discuss economic issues. Ukraine is represented by national security chief Rustem Umerov, general staff chief Andrey Gnatov, negotiator David Arakhamia, deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislitsa, and Kirill Budanov, the former secret police chief who now heads Zelenskyy’s office.
