By Anietie anii-bassey
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Sunday that the next round of negotiations aimed at ending Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine will take place Wednesday and Thursday in Abu Dhabi, renewing cautious diplomatic momentum even as attacks continue across the front lines.
Envoys from Ukraine, Russia and the United States had originally been expected to meet Sunday in the Emirati capital, part of a U.S.-led effort to broker a settlement to a war now nearing its fourth year. Zelenskyy said Kyiv’s negotiating team had confirmed new dates for the talks and stressed that Ukraine intends to press for tangible progress.
“We have just had a report from our negotiating team. The dates for the next trilateral meetings have been set: Feb. 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi. Ukraine is ready for substantive talks, and we are interested in an outcome that will bring us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
U.S. and Russian officials did not immediately comment on the revised schedule. On Saturday, however, Kirill Dmitriev, a senior Russian envoy, said he had held what he described as a “constructive meeting” with members of the U.S. peace delegation during a visit to Florida, signaling that behind-the-scenes diplomacy continues even as public details remain sparse.
Officials have released little information about the Abu Dhabi discussions, which form part of a yearlong initiative by the Trump administration to coax Moscow and Kyiv toward a negotiated settlement. While both sides have said they are open in principle to Washington’s calls for compromise, their positions remain far apart.
At the center of the dispute is territory. Ukraine demands the restoration of its internationally recognized borders, while Russia insists on retaining control over swaths of land its forces occupy, particularly in the eastern industrial region known as the Donbas. Moscow has also pressed claims to additional territory it does not fully control, a stance Kyiv has flatly rejected.
The diplomatic maneuvering unfolded against a backdrop of renewed violence on Sunday. In southern Ukraine, Russian attack drones struck a maternity hospital in the city of Zaporizhzhia, according to the country’s emergency services.
Officials said the assault wounded at least three women inside the facility and ignited a fire in a gynecology reception area that firefighters later extinguished. Regional administrator Ivan Fedorov later reported that the number of injured had climbed to six.
The strike came only days after U.S. President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to temporarily halt attacks on Kyiv and other major cities as Ukraine endures bitter winter conditions that have strained heating systems and electricity supplies.
The Kremlin confirmed Friday that it had agreed to pause strikes on the Ukrainian capital until Sunday but offered no further details, making it difficult to independently verify whether the pledge had been fully honored.
Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have continued to target critical infrastructure in recent days. Energy facilities were hit in Odesa in the south and in Kharkiv in the northeast, while a strike on the Kyiv region last Wednesday killed two people and injured four.
Overnight into Sunday, Russia launched 90 attack drones, Ukraine’s air force said, adding that 14 reached nine separate locations. In the eastern city of Dnipro, an overnight drone strike killed a man and a woman, according to local administrator Oleksandr Hanzha. Elsewhere, Russian shelling struck central Kherson shortly after 7 a.m., seriously wounding a 59-year-old woman, the city’s military administration reported.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday morning that its forces had carried out strikes using aircraft, drones, missiles and artillery against what it described as transport infrastructure used by Ukrainian troops. In a separate statement, the ministry said Russian air defenses had shot down 21 Ukrainian drones over southwestern and western regions of Russia, without reporting casualties or damage.
As negotiators prepare to reconvene in Abu Dhabi, the parallel escalation in hostilities underscores the fragile nature of the diplomatic track. For Kyiv, the talks represent a chance to press for security guarantees and territorial integrity.
For Moscow, they are an opportunity to push its own conditions for ending the conflict. Whether the discussions this week can narrow the gulf between the two sides remains uncertain, but the fighting on the ground continues to shape the urgency — and the stakes — of the negotiations.
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