First Day of U.S.-Mediated Ukraine-Russia Talks in Abu Dhabi Ends Without a Deal

The first day of U.S.-mediated talks between Ukraine and Russia ended Tuesday without an official result, as negotiators opened the first such meeting between the two sides since February.

Delegations from the United States, Russia and Ukraine met in Abu Dhabi for a two-day round scheduled to run through Wednesday. The talks are the first direct meeting between Russian and Ukrainian representatives since an earlier round in February, after the diplomatic track stalled following the start of U.S. military operations against Iran.

Ukraine’s delegation is led by Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence services. Russia’s delegation is led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who has headed Moscow’s negotiating team since the first direct talks with Kyiv in Istanbul in March 2022. President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are mediating for the United States.

Ukrainian media reported that the negotiating teams had agreed on a large prisoner exchange in the near future, citing sources in Ukraine’s delegation. Neither side has confirmed a deal, and no details on its size or timing have been given. The news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported the possible exchange, and Interfax-Ukraine also reported an agreement, without details. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the talks had addressed possible frameworks for humanitarian measures and that releasing prisoners was a priority. He described the discussions as constructive and substantive.

Europe in the room next door

Before the three-way session, Umerov’s team met representatives of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, as well as NATO and the European Commission. The European representatives were in Abu Dhabi but did not take part in the formal negotiations on the first day.

That differed from a pre-talk report that European representatives were expected to join the first session. After the talks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the session very productive and said Europeans should be at the negotiating table. Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also called for greater European involvement, in particular on security guarantees, Ukraine’s possible EU membership and any easing of sanctions on Russia.

Kushner described the talks as an initial step that could “build momentum” toward further negotiations. He said the U.S. team was seeking “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.”

Ceasefire and territory still divide the sides

The gaps on the main issues were on display as the talks opened. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia rejects European calls for a ceasefire. “We will not agree to this,” he said. Kyiv, by contrast, holds that an immediate ceasefire must come first and that territorial questions can only be settled at a direct meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy.

Moscow claims the whole Donetsk region and controls about 80 percent of it, according to the German newspaper Saarbrücker Zeitung. Kyiv rejects a voluntary withdrawal from the territory it still holds, including the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Umerov listed ending hostilities, reliable postwar security guarantees, Ukraine’s economic recovery and humanitarian measures among Kyiv’s priorities. Lavrov said security guarantees for Ukraine and Russia should take effect only after a full settlement of the conflict.

The talks resume Wednesday. In October, the office of first lady Melania Trump said it had brokered a temporary humanitarian ceasefire for the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky in Ukraine’s Kherson region, in effect from October 28 to November 1.

Reporting based on coverage by Qazinform and Bulletin Observer.