Ukraine peace talks: Who is sitting at the negotiating table – and why it matters

Joining me now in the studio is Douglas Heupel, International Affairs Commentator. Douglas, as these two days of talks in Abu Dhabi get underway, the negotiators that each country have chosen to send tells us most of what we really need to know about what will be discussed and just how far apart they're going to be. Absolutely. The who's who of these negotiating teams are the story. You don't have to do too much rune reading. Look, let's start off. These are U.S.-mediated talks, meaning the U.S. will be at the table, but there will be a team of four, at least four Russians, at least four Ukrainians in Abu Dhabi. Let's look at the U.S. The U.S. team is a no-brainer. These are the mediators. They are Donald Trump's. Can we bring up their pictures, perhaps? Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his golfing partner, And and fellow real estate developer Steve Witkoff. These are two men who have been involved as as foreign policy envoys on a number of fronts most recently and currently with Iran, which has distracted their attention, to be honest, from Ukraine. You could see Jared Kushner there on the screen. Now, I want to drop now if we could do big screen and keep it up there on the head of the Russian delegation, because when I say that you could tell from the who's who of who's who they're sending. It says it all. That is a man named Vladimir Medinsky. We've spoken about him before because he is a mainstay of these negotiations. And who is he? Well, he's a former culture minister. But beyond just being a culture minister, he is a hardliner on the Russian thesis that essentially Ukraine isn't a country and that Russia has sort of dominion. over any any aspiration to sovereignty that Ukraine has Vladimir Medinsky published a three volume school textbook on the military history of Russia, basically linking directly the current struggle in Ukraine with the great Soviet patriotic fight against the Nazis in World War Two. This is a common theme in Russian propaganda, direct connect the dots from Ukraine. to the Nazis. And he's an ultra nationalist on the Russian front with no concessions. There are others in the Russian delegation to Sergei Ryabkov is going to be sent. He's a deputy foreign minister. He's also very much he wants to. It's believed bring the bring these talks beyond just Ukraine, but to the broader question of NATO, NATO expansion, the perceived NATO threat to Russia. And he's a real hardliner, which is why a lot of people think that the scope of the talks could be a lot broader because you have those military diplomatic officials around the table. Ukraine also. Sort of very continuity stressed here. If we could bring up Ukraine. Rustem Umerov, you can see him there in the center. He's the head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service. He will be leading a four-man delegation there, which also includes Kirill Budanov, who's the head of Zelensky's presidential office. What are their big aims? They have been there before. They've been in all these rounds of previous negotiations, and it hasn't changed. Their position is the same. They want a cease fire, in it, And they want to secure. What you were mentioning in the opening, they want to have security agreements that basically ensure Ukraine, that Ukraine will be safe in the event of another Russian aggression against the country. That's it. Ceasefire and security guarantees. That's what they'll be looking for. You can see why they're worlds apart here. And as you say, security guarantees are clearly the focus, But of course, there too, Ukraine and Russia are so far apart. They're far apart because Ukraine wants them and Russia is not giving them at least nothing that resembles the real types of security guarantees that Ukraine says are necessary in order to safeguard its sovereignty and its territorial integrity, if and when a final peace deal were ever to be signed. It's very telling in a sense that Russia has adamantly rejected repeated demands, often sponsored not just by Ukraine, but also by the U.S. at varying various times in the Trump administration. offers for a ceasefire. It has rejected those in favor of what Putin calls a broader peace settlement. Which is essentially for the Ukrainians, putting the cart before the horse. Ukraine says you need to stop firing before you could start talking about peace here. The security architecture, what is it? Like I said, it's to make sure Russia doesn't invade again. Putin has continued to hold out for his maximalist demands, addressing what he calls the root causes of this conflict. And all of his negotiators that he is sending there are adamant about one thing. They insist that Ukraine hand back the nearly roughly 2,000 square miles of territory that Russia has, failed to capture, that is still on the battlefield, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine in both the eastern parts in Donbas, but also in the southern parts of Ukraine as well. That has been a non-starter for Ukraine. They will not give that territory back. But Ukraine wants to know that when and if something is resolved over that territorial mix, that they will have firm lines, firm borders, will not be invaded again. Douglas Herbert, thank you.