ABU DHABI — Russia, Ukraine and the United States opened a third round of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The session runs for two days, with the U.S. mediating, and its aim is a political solution to the war.
The Emirates’ deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was there for the launch. He brought greetings from UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and for the delegations taking part, the ministry said. He commended Trump’s efforts to facilitate the talks.
Rustem Umerov heads Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service and is leading Kyiv’s delegation. Before the three-way session, he said, his team sat down with the U.S. envoys and with representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, NATO and the European Commission. The delegations then moved into the trilateral format. The agenda covers ending the fighting and moving toward peace, Umerov said, and his team is working to the tasks set by Zelenskyy.
Jared Kushner said on X that he and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff were working on a “negotiated solution that can deliver lasting peace and create the conditions for a sovereign, secure, and prosperous Ukraine within a more stable European security environment.” Witkoff announced the Nov. 10-11 round last week, building on earlier meetings in Kyiv, Oslo and St. Petersburg.
Who Is at the Table
Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky leads Russia’s team, a delegation of 11. On it are two deputy foreign ministers, Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, and military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov, along with other senior military and intelligence officials, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
Medinsky said at the start of the talks that the Russian delegation “has become bigger and more professional.” He expressed hope that the meeting “will allow us to advance on the path towards peace in the interests of the people of Russia and the people of Ukraine,” according to the Associated Press.
Apart from Umerov, Kyiv’s team includes Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, his deputy, Sergiy Kyslytsya, and Davyd Arakhamia, the parliamentary faction leader of Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party, the Associated Press reported.
A Wider Security Framework
A source in the Russian delegation said the main thrust of the talks would be trying to hammer out the key elements of a new post-war security framework for Europe, according to Reuters. The meeting would focus on developing mechanisms to prevent threats and strengthen regional stability, the source said.
“Whilst the Ukrainian settlement, being a matter of critical importance, is just one aspect of this wide-ranging discussion, it is subordinate to the main objective — the creation of a comprehensive and indivisible security architecture for the entire continent,”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a similar point. “We can only welcome the (U.S.) negotiators on President Donald Trump’s request proposing to put the issue of collective security on top of the agenda of the talks on a Ukrainian settlement,” Lavrov said, according to the Associated Press.
Kushner said on Monday on X that a comprehensive settlement will also require direct engagement between Russia and European partners on the broader security arrangements that affect them, and that the Abu Dhabi discussions will set the stage for that engagement to begin in the near future. Russia has not said it will hold any direct talks with the Europeans this week, according to Reuters.
The Fighting Has Not Stopped
The talks opened after another night of strikes. Russia launched 162 drones of various types and a ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said, according to the Associated Press. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its forces shot down 155 Ukrainian drones overnight above eight Russian regions, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The two governments remain far apart. Putin wants Ukrainian troops pulled back from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Those are the four regions Moscow annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured. He also demands an end to Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, strict limits on its military, and an end to restrictions on the Russian language and the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church, according to the Associated Press.
Zelenskyy, visiting Denmark on Tuesday, rejects the idea of voluntarily ceding territory that Russia has not been able to take on the battlefield, the Associated Press reported. Ukraine argues that an immediate ceasefire is the necessary first step toward a wider settlement and says a direct meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy is the only way territorial issues can be settled.
The session is the first trilateral meeting since February. It is scheduled to run through Wednesday.