Negotiators meet again amid continued fighting and deep divisions over territory, as public skepticism remains high in Ukraine.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators on Wednesday began a second round of U.S.-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi, continuing efforts to end Europe’s largest conflict since World War II as fighting intensifies on the battlefield and positions on both sides remain far apart.
The two-day meetings follow accusations by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russia exploited a U.S.-backed energy truce last week to stockpile weapons before launching what Kyiv described as a record number of ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine on Tuesday.
“Another round of negotiations has begun in Abu Dhabi. The negotiation process started in a trilateral format — Ukraine, the United States, and Russia,” said Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s lead negotiator, in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Umerov said the talks would proceed on multiple tracks, with negotiators breaking into separate working groups to address specific issues before reconvening for a joint session aimed at aligning positions. He did not provide further details on the agenda.
The talks come as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has spent the past year pressing both Kyiv and Moscow to reach a compromise to end the four-year conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Despite several rounds of discussions involving U.S. officials, the two sides remain divided over core issues.
Among the most contentious points are Russia’s demands that Ukraine relinquish territory it still controls and the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is located in a Russian-occupied area of southern Ukraine.
Moscow has insisted that Kyiv withdraw its forces from the entire eastern Donetsk region, including a network of heavily fortified cities that form one of Ukraine’s strongest defensive lines, as a condition for any agreement. Ukrainian officials have rejected that demand, saying the conflict should be frozen along the current front line and ruling out any unilateral withdrawal of troops.
Russian forces currently occupy roughly 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region seized prior to the 2022 invasion. Military analysts have estimated that Russian troops have captured about 1.5 percent additional Ukrainian territory since the start of 2024.
Public opinion in Ukraine remains a significant constraint on negotiators. Polling data indicate that a majority of Ukrainians oppose any agreement that would cede land to Moscow. Residents in Kyiv interviewed on Wednesday expressed skepticism that the renewed talks would yield meaningful progress.
“Let’s hope that it will change something, of course. But I don’t believe it will change anything now. We will not give in, and they will not give in either,” said Serhii, a 38-year-old taxi driver, in comments reported by Reuters.
The first round of talks was held in the United Arab Emirates last month and marked the first direct, publicly acknowledged negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv since the early stages of the war. While the renewed dialogue signals continued diplomatic engagement, officials on both sides have cautioned that significant breakthroughs remain uncertain.
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