BY DPA | POSTED BY TOE

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators began two days of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday in a new push to end the war.

The Ukrainian chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said the aim of the fresh round of talks was to achieve a lasting peace. The Russian chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said that an end to the war was needed in the interests of both the Ukrainian and Russian people.

The last trilateral meeting took place in Geneva in February, following two previous meetings in Abu Dhabi.

US President Donald Trump recently raised expectations of an imminent peace deal with comments about a forthcoming “big, beautiful deal.”

However, observers do not expect a breakthrough from this round of talks.

The US is represented by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Kushner said that tensions were high, but that he hoped for two productive days of negotiations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier Tuesday in Moscow that, at the initiative of the US, the negotiations would focus on the key elements of a regional security framework.

These security guarantees for Ukraine and Russia are to come into force following a “complete and comprehensive settlement” of the conflict. He said that Russia had drawn up a position paper on what the future security architecture in the Eurasian region should look like.

Russia hopes that the US will be resolute enough to balance the interests of both sides, he said.

Ukrainians coordinated with allies in advance

Before the start of the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, the Western allies first met with the Ukrainian negotiating team.

Representatives from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, NATO and the European Commission took part, according to a Telegram post by Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service and chief negotiator. Kushner and Witkoff were also present.

Coordination with all key partners is of fundamental importance to Kiev, he said in a post on Telegram.

“Our top priorities are the cessation of hostilities, reliable post-war security guarantees, the economic recovery and development of Ukraine, and humanitarian measures,” Umerov said.

With Western support, Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion for more than four and a half years. Negotiations to date, mediated by the US, have not yielded a breakthrough.

However, the warring parties have already reached agreement on several occasions regarding humanitarian actions, including the exchange of prisoners of war and the remains of soldiers.

Europeans at the talks

European states are not directly at the table during the trilateral talks. The European Commission said EU representatives would also be present in Abu Dhabi, without specifying the format of its involvement.

“Any meaningful discussions about Europe’s security architecture can only be undertaken once a ceasefire in Ukraine has been achieved,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.

“And it must take place in an appropriate forum, in particular with NATO Allies and EU members.”

According to Kushner, the European partners are only being kept informed on the sidelines; a broader format involving European participation is to follow only once progress has been made.

In the run-up to the meeting, extensive consultations had already taken place in Brussels between European, Ukrainian and US representatives.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently called for a binding decision on who would represent the EU member states in the negotiations, and warned against the risk of irrelevance given Europe’s lack of a unified stance.

Territorial issues remain contentious

Moscow occupied and illegally annexed large parts of eastern Ukraine after it invaded in 2022, and has controlled the Crimean peninsula since a conflict in 2014 – amounting in total to about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory.

Kiev rejects any voluntary withdrawal from the territory it still controls, including the fortified cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Ahead of the latest talks, the two sides again exchanged attacks.

Russia once more targeted energy infrastructure, while Ukraine used drones to set fire to one of Russia’s largest oil refineries in the Leningrad region. Moscow has rejected a Ukrainian proposal to suspend attacks on energy facilities.

Alongside Umerov, the Ukrainian delegation includes presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, First Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya, deputy military intelligence chief Vadym Skibitsky and presidential party parliamentary leader Davyd Arakhamia.

The Russian delegation is led by Putin aide and former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky.

The Russian team includes Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, and General Staff officers Igor Kostyukov and Yuri Shigarlovsky.