Russia Strikes Ukraine’s Power Grid as U.S.-Brokered Peace Talks Open in Abu Dhabi

Russian forces struck 10 Ukrainian regions overnight, hitting five major electrical substations and leaving homes without power, as negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States opened two days of talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The talks are the first three-way meeting between the sides since February. U.S. special envoy Jared Kushner told delegates that recent contacts with both sides had “narrowed the gaps,” according to Reuters.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergiy Koretskyi said on Telegram that Russia hit substations in the Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia and Kirovohrad regions. Two people were killed in the Vinnytsia region. State grid operator Ukrenergo said Russia struck energy infrastructure in eight regions overnight and into the morning, leaving homes without power in six, including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk.

Civilian infrastructure in the central Kirovohrad region also came under attack, including a major home improvement store, regional governor Andriy Raikovych said. In the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Russia attacked four districts with drones more than 20 times overnight, regional officials said.

Territory and security guarantees on the table

The talks opened a day after Russia and Ukraine traded long-range strikes, and the overnight attacks made clear the fighting will continue while diplomats meet. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would not agree to an immediate ceasefire without knowing what would happen next.

President Donald Trump said last week that a broad peace deal was possible in the four-and-a-half-year-old war and could cover security across Europe. “It’s going to be a big agreement, and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine … I could even say it might involve all of Europe,” Trump said, according to Reuters.

U.S. negotiators believe that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin may be willing to strike a compromise on territory, each ceding a little, a U.S. official told Reuters. A senior Ukrainian official denied that the government would consider any such concessions, saying the issue of territory could be discussed only at a leaders’ level and only in the context of security guarantees for Ukraine.

Publicly, there has been no sign that Putin is willing to drop his insistence that Ukraine surrender the entire eastern region of Donbas before a peace deal can be struck. Zelenskiy has refused to hand over land his forces have died defending, and said on Monday that Ukraine’s leverage was growing after its forces retook some territory in Donetsk. He also said Russia was suffering “record losses,” a claim Moscow disputes.

Europe on the sidelines in Abu Dhabi

The Russian delegation is led again by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky and includes Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov for the first time and senior military officer Yuri Zhigarlovsky. Rustem Umerov heads the Ukrainian delegation.

European powers, including France, Germany and the European Commission, sent officials to Abu Dhabi, but Russia has made it clear it does not want the Europeans to take part in the negotiations. Ukrainian delegates will meet separately to brief their European allies on the progress of the discussions, which began at around 0630 GMT on Tuesday.

“We are doing everything to ensure that Europe is a participant in the diplomatic process,” Umerov said on Monday.

Under the proposed deal, Ukraine would get an end to the war, security guarantees and a roadmap to accession to the European Union, Reuters reported. A truce on striking energy targets announced by Trump last month fell apart, and Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russian oil refineries in recent weeks while Moscow has pounded Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure and cities.

G7 foreign ministers are also expected to discuss Ukraine on Tuesday, the second day of their gathering in Paris, and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha will join the talks.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters.