US, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators opened two days of peace talks in Abu Dhabi on security and territory, the first substantive round since February. India spoke to Kyiv and Moscow beforehand.
Delegations from the United States, Russia and Ukraine sat down in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for two days of talks, the first substantive round since February. Few people expect a breakthrough. US officials say, though, that Moscow and Kyiv have shown a little private flexibility on the hardest question, who controls eastern Ukraine.
Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner lead the US team, and Kushner said the talks would deal with the postwar security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine. Russia's chief negotiators are Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky and his deputy, Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin. Ukraine's delegation is headed by the head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service Rustem Umerov. He outlined four priorities: stopping the fighting, effective security assurances, economic recovery and humanitarian measures. The Geneva round in February of last year yielded no results and the US-Israel war on Iran diverted Washington's attention. The BBC reports at least 40 people were killed in a Russian attack on a village in Zaporizhya last week.
Territory is still the main sticking point. Russia wants Ukraine out of the parts of Donetsk it still holds. AP reports that Putin also wants a pullback from Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, a ban on Ukraine joining NATO and limits on its army. Kyiv wants the front line frozen where it is and says a ceasefire has to come first. A US official said the territorial question cannot be settled until the postwar security arrangements are clear, so any land deal would probably come last.
Those arrangements could include regular security consultations, crisis hotlines, steps by both sides to reduce tensions, and a revived NATO-Russia Council. The US official also raised the possibility of an Article 5-style guarantee for Ukraine. President Donald Trump has said Ukraine may end up with a "little bit different shape," and Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko warned that Trump wants a quick deal at Kyiv's expense. Europe's place at the table is unclear. France's foreign minister said Europeans would be represented, but The Guardian reported that Russia insisted European officials stay out of the room, and that Ukraine's delegation would brief them separately.
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the Ukraine conflict and ongoing diplomatic efforts. Zelenskyy said he briefed Modi on the talks and raised Russia's continued blocking of grain exports through the Black Sea. Reports said India offered to help with food corridors. Zelenskyy has also said that Ukraine's gains on the battlefield are strengthening its hand in the negotiations.
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