US-mediated talks on ending Russia-Ukraine war begin in Abu Dhabi

Ukrainian, Russian and American delegations are meeting here in Abu Dhabi for a fresh round of trilateral peace talks. Is that us? During the meeting in Abu Dhabi, our team will propose steps towards de-escalation. There must be an understanding of how to organize a trilateral format at the level of leaders in order to truly and fairly end this war. Peace is needed, security guarantees are needed, and real resources for Ukraine's post-war reconstruction are needed. Nine months on from the talks in Geneva which produced no clear breakthrough, the Trump administration says that this round of discussions will be a new starting point in ending the war, including discussions on security guarantees and so-called post-war security architecture – a term which stoked fear that Washington would collaborate with Moscow on creating a new European security framework. On Monday, President Trump hinted that Ukraine will have to give up land ahead of the talks. But you expect it to all work out with a free and independent Ukraine? I think we're going to have it done, and I think it's going to happen, and they're going to end up with a... The EU has also sent a delegation of diplomats to attend separate meetings with the Ukrainians, concerned that the Trump administration will force an unfair deal onto Kyiv and eager to take a more active role in discussions over Ukraine's future. I don't have very high expectations regarding these talks because we haven't seen really any signs from Russia that they are willing to negotiate in good faith. As winter closes in on the front lines, Moscow has intensified its strikes on Ukrainian cities, whilst a leaked dataset suggests more than 400,000 Russian soldiers have died since 2021.