The second day of peace negotiations in Abu Dhabi. Putin's emissary attacks Europe, but sees a “positive” development in talks with Ukraine
The first day of negotiations, on Wednesday, was a “productive” one, Ukrainian officials said, but they did not announce a concrete result regarding the main issues blocking a possible truce, writes Reuters.
Ukraine and Russia began a second day of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday in what they say is an attempt to end the four-year war, Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said.
“The second day of negotiations in Abu Dhabi has begun,” Umerov wrote on the Telegram app. “We are working in the same format as yesterday: trilateral consultations, group work and further synchronization of positions,” he added.
Meanwhile, the emissary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kirill Dmitriev, signaled progress and a positive evolution of the negotiations.
“Warriors from Europe, from Britain, are constantly trying to interfere with this process, constantly trying to interfere in it. And the more such attempts, the more clearly we see that progress is being made,” said Dmitriev.
“There is a positive development,” he said in comments provided by his press service.
He said active work was being done to restore relations with the United States, including within a US-Russia working group on economic issues.
A “productive” day
The first day of negotiations on Wednesday was a “productive” one, chief negotiator Umerov said on Wednesday.
“The work was substantial and productive, focused on concrete measures and practical solutions,” the head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine wrote on X.
A source in Washington gives the first impression after the new round of trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi
A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also described the talks as productive and said they would continue Thursday morning.
“The good news is that, for the first time in a very long time, military technical teams from Ukraine and Russia are meeting in a forum in which we will also participate with our experts,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday.
“I don't want to say that the talks themselves are progress, but it's good that there is a dialogue,” he said.
Zelensky's pressures
Speaking in his nightly video address, Volodymyr Zelensky said it was essential that the talks lead to real peace and not give Russia another opportunity to continue the war.
Ukraine's partners, he said, must put more pressure on Moscow.
“This needs to be felt now. The people of Ukraine need to feel that the situation is really moving towards peace and the end of the war, not towards a situation where Russia is using everything to its advantage and continuing attacks,” Zelenskiy said.
Zelensky announces how many Ukrainians died on the front. The number is much lower than unofficial estimates
The president, interviewed by the French television channel France 2, said that the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed on the battlefield as a result of the war with Russia is estimated at 55,000.
Zelenskiy had previously cited a figure of more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed in an interview with US television network NBC in February 2025.
Shortly after the talks began, Russian forces hit a busy market in eastern Ukraine with cluster munitions, killing at least seven people and wounding 15, the governor of the Donetsk region, Vadim Filashkin, said.
The main issues remain unresolved
The Trump administration has pressed both Kiev and Moscow to find a compromise to end the war, but the two sides remain deadlocked on several key points.
The most complicated issues are Moscow's demands that Kiev give up the territories it still controls and the fate of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, which is in an area occupied by Russia.
Moscow wants Kiev to withdraw its troops from the entire Donetsk region, including the heavily fortified cities, as a precondition for any deal.
Ukraine has said the conflict should be frozen along the current front lines and rejects any unilateral withdrawal of its forces.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russian troops would continue to fight until Kiev made “decisions” that could end the war.
Russia occupies about 20 percent of Ukraine's national territory, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region, captured before the 2022 invasion. Analysts say Russia has gained about 1.5 percent of Ukrainian territory since early 2024.
“Russia is not winning the war against Ukraine,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sibiha told the online publication Liga on Tuesday.
Polls show most Ukrainians oppose a deal that would give Moscow more territory.
