Abu Dhabi: Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv on Wednesday held a second straight day of US-mediated talks on ways of ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, which started with the Russian invasion almost five years ago
Hopes are low for any breakthrough in the first meeting in nine months between the delegations, although US officials say they are determined to revive peace efforts that so far have failed to deliver significant results.
“We are starting the second day of negotiations,” Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service who leads Kyiv's delegation in Abu Dhabi, said on social media.
The envoys met for four hours Tuesday in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which was chosen as a neutral venue. The talks, mediated by US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff, were due to conclude later Wednesday.
The context of the negotiations has changed since the last meeting in February in Geneva. The Trump administration has to reckon with Democrats, who could demand more support for Ukraine, taking over the US Congress in January following the US midterm elections.
Also, Russia's wartime economy is under heavy strain, and Ukraine is reeling from devastating aerial attacks on its power grid.
Umerov said that Wednesday would begin with three-way talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States, with Kyiv's delegation meeting afterwards with European officials.
Moscow doesn't want European countries, which are concerned about Russia's conduct and broader intentions on the continent, involved in the direct negotiations.
However, representatives of European governments, the European Union and NATO were in Abu Dhabi and were consulting with the Ukrainian delegation, officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday's session was “constructive and quite substantive”.
The talks were largely about humanitarian issues, including possible prisoner exchanges and returning Ukrainian civilians in captivity, as well as children taken from the country, he said.
Security guarantees also were discussed, he said. However, Russia and Ukraine have shown no sign of a willingness to compromise on their demands.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the meeting “very productive,” while cautioning that a breakthrough on stopping the war will take time.
The Abu Dhabi talks are being held against the backdrop of continued fighting on the front line, where little territory has changed hands this year.
Meanwhile, both countries are battering each other with long-range missiles and drones.
Overnight, Russia struck the southern Zaporizhzhia region and the eastern city of Kharkiv, wounding seven civilians and damaging property.
Russia's Defence Ministry said that air defences downed 627 Ukrainian drones overnight, 150 of them over the region around St Petersburg, according to the regional Gov Alexander Drozdenko.
He said the drones started a fire at the port of Ust-Luga, one of the main facilities for Russian oil exports, injuring three workers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the first day of the two-day trilateral talks involving Ukraine, the US and Russia, hosted in Abu Dhabi, was "constructive and quite substantive".
In a public statement published on X after speaking with Ukraine's negotiating team on Tuesday (local time), the Ukrainian head of state noted that the discussions centred heavily on humanitarian concerns, such as prisoner releases, alongside robust security assurances for Kyiv. Furthermore, stakeholders addressed the pressing need for de-escalation measures, he added.
Zelenskyy said he had provided the Ukrainian negotiating team with explicit directives regarding further discussions on Wednesday, alongside upcoming broader meetings over the following days involving US presidential envoys and European representatives.
Earlier on Tuesday, official delegations representing Moscow, Washington and Kyiv convened in the capital of the United Arab Emirates for their first trilateral talks since February.
Before the commencement of the formal trilateral talks, the Ukrainian delegation conferred with representatives from Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy, as well as delegates from the European Commission and NATO.
The high-level meeting also hosted American special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.
Meanwhile, attacks continue unabated across both nations. Five non-combatants, including a civilian commuter on a public bus, were killed in Ukrainian strikes targeting the Lugansk region over the preceding 24 hours, regional leader Leonid Pasechnik said on Tuesday.
"It's been a difficult day for our republic: five people were killed, and four more were injured," Pasechnik said on the social media platform Telegram.
In a separate development, three staff members employed at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant were killed in Ukrainian bombardments over the past fortnight, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told reporters on the same day. \
(With agency inputs from ANI and PTI)