Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday highlighted progress made by Russian, Ukrainian and American negotiators in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi, even as the path to attaining peace stays unclear.
“A lot was discussed, and it is important that the conversations were constructive,” Zelensky wrote on social media, including, “The central focus of the discussions was the possible parameters for ending the war.”
The trilateral talks held on Friday and Saturday had been the first time that officers from all three international locations sat down collectively since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. One US official mentioned the meeting marked a major step ahead after months of quiet diplomacy, stressing that whereas a remaining deal isn’t assured, progress wouldn’t have been potential with out face-to-face talks.
The diplomatic effort got here as Russia launched its largest in a single day aerial assault on Ukraine thus far this 12 months.
Though the two-day session didn’t yield a breakthrough, the events signaled hope for a future deal.
“Provided there is readiness to move forward – and Ukraine is ready – further meetings will take place, potentially as early as next week,” Zelensky mentioned.
US President Donald Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff similarly characterized the talks as “very constructive” and famous that “plans were made to continue conversations next week in Abu Dhabi.”
“President Trump and his entire team are dedicated to bringing peace to this war,” Witkoff mentioned.
The subsequent spherical of talks will start in Abu Dhabi on February 1, US officers mentioned.
On Sunday, Zelensky mentioned {that a} doc outlining safety ensures sought by Ukraine — a key issue for the nation’s Ukraine’s postwar stability — is “100% ready.”
Kyiv is now hoping to set a time and place to signal the deal, he mentioned.
“For us, security guarantees are primarily bilateral security guarantees with the US. The document is 100% ready. We expect our partners to be ready with the date and place when we will sign it,” Zelensky mentioned at a information convention in Lithuania.
He added that the doc will then must be ratified by the US Congress and the Ukrainian parliament.
The US has led bilateral negotiations with Ukraine and Russia for months, working to resolve the excellent points as the combating rages on.
In Abu Dhabi, the negotiators mentioned a revised 20-point plan that addresses problems with territory, economic system, safety, and different areas.
Despite the progress touted by the US and Ukrainian sides, the divisive issue of territory continued to be some extent of competition, with no clear decision met.
Control of the jap Ukrainian area identified as the Donbas, made up of the coal-rich areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, has been a core demand of Russia.
Ahead of the Abu Dhabi talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned Ukraine leaving the Donbas stays a key situation for Moscow.
“Russia’s position is well known: The Ukrainian armed forces must leave Donbas, must withdraw from there; this is a very important condition,” Peskov mentioned.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov reiterated this after the talks, telling state information company TASS that Moscow needs to develop a plan that “fully corresponds to the fundamental understandings” reached by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump during their summit in Alaska final 12 months.
That settlement offered that Ukraine would cede the the rest of the Donetsk and Luhansk areas in alternate for a ceasefire.
Ukraine has persistently rejected the notion of constructing territorial concessions for a peace deal.
In between the rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, Russia maintained its strikes on Ukraine, unleashing a barrage of missile and drone assaults focusing on the capital metropolis of Kyiv and Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis, Kharkiv.
In Kyiv, at the least one individual died and 4 others had been wounded, the metropolis’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, mentioned.
Falling particles induced fires and broken buildings, Klitschko mentioned, with almost 6,000 house blocks in Kyiv shedding warmth in the center of a bitterly cold winter.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha accused Putin of “cynically” ordering the “barbaric attack” as the diplomatic course of was unfolding in Abu Dhabi.
“Every such Russian strike on our energy infrastructure proves that there must be no delays in supplying air defenses. No blind eye can be turned to these strikes; they must be met with a strong response,” Zelensky mentioned on Facebook.
On Sunday, Zelensky mentioned that Russia had used the peace course of “to do everything possible” to realize full management of jap Ukraine, one thing he mentioned “they have not yet been able to do” on the battlefield.
He pressured that Ukraine’s territorial integrity have to be revered.
“We are fighting for our country – for what is ours. We are not fighting on foreign territory. What questions could there be for us?” the Ukrainian president mentioned.
The US has pushed for Ukraine to make territorial concessions, which Trump has positioned as a mandatory trade-off to achieve a peace cope with Russia.
Zelensky acknowledged that discovering widespread floor between two “fundamentally different positions” would require a compromise.
“These are the first steps towards finding that very compromise,” he added. “But for a compromise, all sides must be ready to compromise. Incidentally, this includes the American side as well.”