Negotiators have wrapped up the first day of youth-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi as fighting rages on. After the end, Ukrainian officials were quick to declare that the talks were productive.
Photos released by the UAE foreign ministry earlier today showed the three delegations sitting around a U-shaped table, with US officials seated in the centre, including special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
What came before
Ahead of the talks, chief Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said the groups would meet in separate groups to discuss specific issues and then hold a joint meeting to coordinate their positions.
Shortly after the talks began, Russian forces hit a busy market in eastern Ukraine with cluster munitions, killing at least seven people and wounding 15, Donetsk regional governor Vadim Phylaskin said.
The most sensitive issues are Moscow’s demands that Kiev give up territory it still controls and the fate of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is located in Russian-held territory.
A message from the Kremlin
The Russian military will continue fighting in Ukraine until Kiev makes “decisions” that could end the war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today.
“Russia is not winning its war against Ukraine,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibykha told online media outlet Liga on Tuesday, arguing that Moscow is paying a heavy price in terms of battlefield casualties and economic damage for minor territorial advances.
Moscow wants Kiev to withdraw its troops from the entire Donetsk region, including a zone of heavily fortified cities considered one of Ukraine’s strongest defenses, as a condition for any deal.
What does Kiev say?
Ukraine has said the conflict should freeze along the current front line and has rejected any unilateral withdrawal of its forces.
Polls show a majority of Ukrainians oppose a deal that would give Moscow more land. The first round of talks took place in the United Arab Emirates last month, marking the first direct public negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.
