Ukraine and Russia ended a second day of U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Saturday without an agreement. Future meetings were discussed after an overnight Russian airstrike left more than 1 million Ukrainians without power in sub-zero winter temperatures.
A statement after the meeting did not indicate any agreement had been reached, but both Moscow and Kiev said they were open to further dialogue.
After the meeting, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote about Mr.
“As a result of the talks held in the last few days, the two sides agreed to report to the capital on each aspect of the negotiations and to coordinate further measures with the leaders,” he said, adding that further talks could be held as early as next week.
A UAE government spokesman said there had been face-to-face engagements between Ukraine and Russia, an unusual move in the nearly four-year war sparked by a full-scale Russian invasion, and addressed “a standout element” of the US peace framework.
Rustem Umerov, spokesman for Ukraine’s chief negotiator, told reporters just before 5pm Abu Dhabi time (1pm Japan time) that talks had ended.
Airstrike on Ukraine before second day of talks
Foreign Minister Andriy Sibikha, who was not present at the meeting, condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions as “cynical” after hundreds of Russian-made drones and missiles bombarded Ukraine’s capital Kiev and second city Kharkov.
“This barbaric attack once again proves that President Putin’s place is not in[US President Donald Trump’s]peace committee, but in the dock of a special tribunal,” Sibiha wrote in X.
“His missiles hit not only our people, but also the negotiating table.”
Saturday was scheduled to be the final day of talks, which Zelenskyy billed as the first tripartite talks under the U.S.-brokered peace process.
A UAE statement said the talks “held in a constructive and positive atmosphere.”
“(The agreement) includes direct engagement between Russian and Ukrainian representatives on the salient elements of the U.S.-proposed peace framework, as well as confidence-building measures aimed at supporting progress toward a comprehensive agreement.”
Kiev is under increasing pressure from the Trump administration to make concessions to reach a deal to end Europe’s deadliest and most destructive conflict since World War II.
President Zelenskyy said on Friday that it was too early to draw conclusions from the first day of talks in Abu Dhabi and called on Russia to show it was ready for peace.
U.S. peace envoy Steve Witkoff said at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos this week that much progress had been made in negotiations, with only one hurdle remaining. But Russian officials are expressing even more skepticism.
Russia wants the whole Donbass
After Saturday’s talks, President Zelensky said the US delegation had raised the issue of “potential forms of formalizing the conditions for ending the war and the security conditions necessary to achieve this.”
Ahead of the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russia remains committed to ceding to Ukraine the entire eastern region of Donbass, an industrial hub that binds Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Putin’s demand that Ukraine hand over 20% of Donetsk’s roughly 5,000 square kilometers (1,900 square miles) holdings has proven to be a major obstacle to any deal. Most countries recognize Donetsk as part of Ukraine. Putin said Donetsk is part of Russia’s “historic lands.”
President Zelenskiy has ruled out the possibility of Russia giving up territory it has been unable to capture in a brutal four-year war of attrition with a much smaller enemy. Opinion polls show little appetite among Ukrainians for territorial concessions.
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.
Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said late on Friday that the first day of talks discussed conditions for ending the war and “further logic of the negotiation process.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine was exposed to new Russian shelling.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 375 drones and 21 missiles in a nighttime salvo, again targeting energy infrastructure, cutting off power and heat to large parts of the capital Kiev. At least one person was killed and more than 30 injured.
Before Saturday’s shelling, Kiev had already endured two major nighttime attacks since the new year, cutting off electricity and heating to hundreds of residential buildings. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister announced on Saturday that 800,000 people in Kiev were without power after the latest Russian attack, where temperatures were around -10 degrees Celsius.
President Zelensky said on Saturday that Russia’s large-scale attack overnight showed that the agreement for further air defense support signed with President Donald Trump at Davos this week must be “fully implemented.”
