Ukraine-Russia talks in Abu Dhabi end without compromise – Reuters
Photo: Rustem Umyerov (Getty Images)
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in Abu Dhabi on Friday, focusing primarily on the territorial issue. However, the sides failed to reach a compromise, reports Reuters.
During the talks, Kyiv is under increasing pressure from the United States to reach a peace deal, while Moscow insists on the transfer of the entire eastern industrial zone of Donbas as a condition for ending hostilities.
Territories are the key issue of the talks
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the territorial dispute is the central topic of the trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia, and the United States, which are due to conclude on Saturday. According to him, it is still too early to draw conclusions from Friday’s meeting.
“The most important thing is that Russia should be ready to end this war, which it started,” Zelenskyy emphasized, adding that he is in constant contact with the Ukrainian delegation.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov said that the sides discussed the parameters for ending the war and the further logic of the negotiation process.
Contacts with the United States and security guarantees
The talks in Abu Dhabi took place after Zelenskyy met with US President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos. At that time, Zelenskyy said that an agreement on US security guarantees was already prepared and that he was only waiting for the date and place of its signing to be determined.
Kyiv insists on reliable security guarantees from Western partners in the event of a peace agreement to prevent renewed aggression from Russia.
Russian strikes and the threat of a humanitarian crisis
The talks are taking place amid intensified Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. As a result of the strikes in major cities, including Kyiv, disruptions to electricity and heating supplies have been recorded during a period of severe cold.
The head of Ukraine’s largest private energy producer, Maksym Tymchenko, told Reuters that the situation is approaching a humanitarian catastrophe and that the country needs a ceasefire to stop attacks on the energy system. The Ministry of Energy said the system had endured its most difficult day since November 2022.
Donbas as the main stumbling block
Moscow declares its readiness for a diplomatic settlement but insists on achieving its goals. The Kremlin demands that Ukraine transfer to Russia about 20% of the Donetsk region territory that remains under Kyiv’s control.
President Zelenskyy categorically rejects such conditions, stressing that Ukraine will not cede territories that Russia has failed to seize over the years of war.
A source close to the Kremlin told Reuters that Moscow believes the “Anchorage formula,” which, according to Russia, was agreed between Trump and Putin at a summit in Alaska in August last year, would give Russia control over all of Donbas and freeze the front line in other areas of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Russian assets and reparations
As the outlet writes, Russia proposed using nearly $5 billion in assets frozen in the United States to rebuild the occupied territories. Ukraine and its European allies insist on the payment of reparations. Commenting on the idea, Zelenskyy called it “nonsense.”
Talks in Abu Dhabi
Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the key topic of the talks in Abu Dhabi would be the territorial issue, namely, Donbas.
On the eve of the meeting, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Ukrainian troops must leave the territory of Donbas, calling this a “fundamental condition” for the Russian side.
On Thursday, January 23, Zelenskyy approved the composition of the Ukrainian delegation for the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi. The negotiation team was headed by NSDC Secretary Rustem Umerov.
The president also held consultations with the Ukrainian delegation that is now in the UAE for talks with the United States and Russia. He later reported that the first contact between the participants in the negotiation process had already taken place.
Read everything known about the first trilateral meeting of Ukraine, the United States, and Russia, as well as the events that preceded it, in the RBC-Ukraine report.
