Russian and Ukrainian negotiators stated that some progress had been made during the two-day peace talks in Abu Dhabi, which concluded on Wednesday. These were the first peace negotiations in eight months, mediated by the United States.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to a larger prisoner exchange, but there were no other significant concrete outcomes following the meetings. American mediators assessed that there is a lack of trust between the warring parties and that differences remain on issues such as territory. Negotiations on territory reached a dead end, with Ukraine rejecting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands to hand over the entire eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace.
US envoy Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump, said that mediators were trying to satisfy the interests of both sides to end the biggest conflict in Europe since the Second World War. He expressed confidence that a path to peace could be found. He also stated that there is currently no trust between the parties and that the talks in the capital of the United Arab Emirates touched on territorial issues that would be the hardest to resolve. According to him, there are areas where compromises are visible, while others require further discussion. He assessed that this had been a very good step.
Despite Trump’s public optimism, there are no signs that a compromise has been reached on the main issues. American mediators attempted to steer the talks towards post-war security guarantees and reconstruction. Kushner said that he and his colleague Steve Witkoff would travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet Putin, where they would raise the issue of expanding the negotiations to European partners. He added that European partners must be at the table and that Europe’s security architecture could form the basis of an agreement, but did not provide details.
The Trump administration has reduced direct support for Ukraine, and Europe has become the main provider of financial and military aid to Ukraine. After the meeting in Moscow, Kushner and Witkoff will meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to Ireland. Both sides accused each other of overnight attacks despite the peace talks being underway.
