Ukraine, Russia and the US Call Day One in Abu Dhabi 'Constructive' - and Reconvene Wednesday With Land Still Undecided
Four hours, the first trilateral since February, and both sides' patrons using the same warm words. What has not moved is the map, and no agreement was announced - Wednesday is the day Zelensky calls the main day of negotiations.
The first day of new trilateral peace talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States ended with the word every negotiator reaches for and means carefully: constructive. The delegations met for about four hours in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, in the first three-way format aimed at ending the war in Ukraine since a February round, and they reconvene for a second day on Wednesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, briefed by his negotiating team, said the trilateral format was “constructive and quite substantive.” He said the teams discussed the need and possible parameters for humanitarian steps - reporting on the talks identifies prisoner exchanges, returning Ukrainian civilians in captivity and children taken from Ukraine among them - and spoke in detail about the substance of security guarantees for Ukraine and the foundations for making those guarantees function over the long term. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was not present at the talks, told reporters afterward that the first day was “very productive.” Special envoy Jared Kushner said a key focus of the talks is postwar security concerns, and he and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff had met Russian and Ukrainian officials over recent weeks to set the stage.
Zelensky has said Wednesday will be the main day of negotiations, with de-escalation options and the possibility of a meeting between himself and Russian President Vladimir Putin to be discussed. Three previous rounds of talks earlier this year ended without any significant breakthrough, and none was announced on day one here - no agreement is claimed, because none was reported by any of the three delegations.
That is the honest shape of Tuesday's news: a format that held for four hours, warm words attributed on the record to the principals themselves, and the hard questions - territory, guarantees that hold, and whether the two presidents meet - carried into a second day. This desk will file on Wednesday's outcome when the delegations state it.
