First posted on Instagram
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the first day of United States-mediated talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi as "constructive and quite substantive," raising hopes that the negotiations could open a path to ending a war now in its fifth year.
The delegations met on Tuesday, November 10, for four and a half hours, discussing humanitarian steps, the release of prisoners — which Kyiv named as its priority — and the substance of security guarantees for Ukraine after the war. They were due to resume on Wednesday, November 11.
Zelenskyy had struck the same note days earlier, after a 90-minute conversation with Witkoff and Kushner on Wednesday, November 4. "The negotiations must move forward at full throttle to bring this war to an end as quickly as possible. Ukraine is ready to take the necessary steps. Our proposals are clear, and we have given them to the American side," he wrote on X.
Zelenskyy said he hoped the adviser-level talks would lead to a meeting of leaders that includes Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking in Berlin on November 3 alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, he said: "We are counting on the fact that work in this format and our other diplomatic steps will open the way to a trilateral format at the level of leaders."
The United States side is led by President Donald Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Ukraine's delegation is led by Rustem Umerov, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service; Russia's by former Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky. It is the third round of talks in Abu Dhabi this year, following security consultations in January and February; the delegations last met in Geneva on February 18. European officials are present in Abu Dhabi alongside the talks, though not at the negotiating table.
In Washington, Trump told reporters he saw a "very strong inclination" towards ending the war and that both sides were "tired of fighting." "We're having a very good conversation about that in Abu Dhabi," he said.
The obstacles remain formidable: Russia's territorial demands and Ukraine's insistence on credible security guarantees. A major prisoner exchange is among the issues on the table, according to reports from Kyiv. And the fighting has not stopped: Zelenskyy denounced a Russian drone attack in the Zaporizhzhia region that targeted emergency crews at a rescue site after an earlier strike killed 55 people.
Trump promised to end the war quickly when he took office in January 2025, but a settlement has remained elusive nearly five years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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