Ukraine and Russia resume US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi
Members of the U.S., Russian and Ukrainian delegations, including United States Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council Rustem Umerov and head of Russian military intelligence (GRU) and head of Russian’s team in security talk Admiral Igor Kostyukov, attend the second round of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. SOURCE: REUTERS
Ukraine and Russia started a second day of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, after a first day described as productive and positive by both Kyiv and Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said on Thursday that there was progress and a positive movement forward in talks on how to end the four-year war.
Ukraine's top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said after Wednesday's meetings that the discussions were "meaningful and productive, focusing on concrete steps and practical solutions".
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Announcing the start of the second day of talks, he said the officials would work in the same formats as during their first day - trilateral consultations, group discussions, and then again joint coordination of the positions.
"The second day of negotiations in Abu Dhabi has begun," Umerov said on the Telegram app.
Dmitriev said that active work was underway torestore Russia's relations with the United States, including within the framework of a US-Russia working group on the economy.
"The warmongers from Europe, from Britain, are constantly trying to interfere with this process, constantly trying to meddle in it. And the more such attempts there are, the more we see that progress is definitely being made," Dmitriev said.
"There is positive movement forward," he said, in comments supplied by his press service.
Trump's pressure to find a compromise
US President Donald Trump's administration has pushed both Kyiv and Moscow to find a compromise to end the war, but the two sides appear to remain far apart on key points despite several rounds of talks with US officials.
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Ukrainian officials have said that this round of talks was different compared with previous attempts, as the Russian delegation also included military teams.
The most complicated issues are Moscow's demands that Kyiv cede land it still controls in the eastern Donetsk region and the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, which is in a Russian-occupied area.
As a precondition for any deal, Moscow wants Kyiv to pull its troops from all of the Donetsk region, including a line of heavily fortified cities regarded as one of Ukraine's strongest defences.
Ukraine has said the conflict should be frozen along the current front lines and rejects any unilateral pullback of its forces. Kyiv says it wants control of the Zaporizhzhia power plant.
Russia occupies about 20% of Ukraine's national territory, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region seized before the 2022 invasion. Analysts say Russia has gained about 1.5% of Ukrainian territory since early 2024.
After heavy Russian airstrikes on Ukraine overnight on Tuesday, ahead of the talks, there were fewer reports of attacks on Thursday. Kyiv's mayor said two people were injured in a drone strike overnight in the capital.