Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in Abu Dhabi on Friday to address territorial disputes, but there were no signs of compromise as Russian airstrikes plunge Ukraine into its worst energy crisis in nearly four years of war.
Kiev has come under increasing pressure from the United States to reach a peace deal in the war that began with Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022, with Moscow demanding that Kiev cede the entire eastern industrial zone of Donbass before it ceases fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the territorial dispute was a central issue in tripartite talks involving Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. officials that are scheduled to conclude on Saturday.
“The most important thing is that Russia is ready to end this war that it started,” Zelenskiy said in a statement on the Telegram app, adding that he was in regular contact with Ukrainian negotiators but it was too early to draw conclusions from Friday’s talks.
“Let’s see tomorrow how the conversation goes and what the outcome is.”
Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council and head of the delegation, said in a statement that the talks discussed conditions for ending the war and “further logic of the negotiation process.”
The negotiations came a day after Zelensky met with US President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Zelenskiy said Friday that a U.S. security agreement for Ukraine is ready and he is just waiting for a specific date and place for President Trump to sign the deal.
Ukraine has sought strong security from its Western allies in the event of a peace deal to prevent another invasion by Russia, which has shown little interest in ending the war.
Russia steps up attacks on power infrastructure
The U.S.-brokered tripartite talks come as temperatures dip well below freezing and Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukraine’s energy systems, cutting off power and heating in major cities such as Kiev.
Maxim Timchenko, head of Ukraine’s largest private power generation company, told Reuters on Friday that the situation was approaching a “humanitarian catastrophe” and that Ukraine needed a ceasefire to stop attacks on its energy infrastructure.
Kiev’s energy minister said Thursday that Ukraine’s power grid has endured its most difficult days since a major power outage in November 2022, when Russia began bombing energy infrastructure.
A car drives on the road during a power outage in Kiev on January 20, 2026, during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sergey Gapon | AFP | Getty Images
Russia hopes for a diplomatic solution, but says it will continue to strive to achieve its goals through military means as long as a negotiated solution is difficult.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand that Ukraine hand over 20% of the Donetsk region (approximately 5,000 square kilometers, 1,900 square miles) it still holds has proved to be a major obstacle to a landmark deal.
President Zelenskiy has refused to give up land that Russia has failed to capture during a brutal four-year war of attrition. Opinion polls show little appetite among Ukrainians for territorial concessions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russia’s insistence that Ukraine cede all of Donbas is a “very important condition.”
Sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters that the Kremlin believes the “berthing arrangement” – which Moscow says was agreed between Trump and Putin at a summit in Alaska last August – would give Russia control of all of Donbas and freeze the front line in other parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Donetsk is one of four regions in Ukraine that the Russian government announced it would annex in 2022, following a referendum that was rejected as a sham by Kiev and the West. Most countries recognize Donetsk as part of Ukraine.
Moscow wants to use frozen assets
Russia has also floated the idea of using most of the nearly $5 billion in Russian assets frozen in the United States to fund the recovery of Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. Ukraine, with the support of its European allies, is demanding reparations from Russia.
Asked about Russia’s idea, Zelenskiy dismissed it as “nonsense.”
President Zelenskiy said Thursday in Davos that the Abu Dhabi meeting will be the first tripartite meeting involving Ukrainian and Russian envoys and a US mediator.
Last year, Russian and Ukrainian delegations held their first face-to-face talks since meeting in Istanbul in 2022. Ukrainian military intelligence officials also met with U.S. and Russian delegations in Abu Dhabi in November.
