The key facts

  • First trilateral meeting after an almost nine-month break
  • Key issues — security guarantees and the situation after the end of the conflict
  • The Ukrainian delegation, with Europe's support, demands a ceasefire first

Talks in Abu Dhabi

Trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States on resolving the conflict are underway in Abu Dhabi. The Russian delegation is led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, the Ukrainian delegation by Rustem Umerov, and the American side is represented by US presidential special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. This is the first meeting in a trilateral format after an almost nine-month break; the parties intend to discuss the terms of a cessation of hostilities, security guarantees and humanitarian issues, Gazeta.Ru reports.

Two key questions and Kyiv's position

According to RBC-Ukraine, citing a source, the talks are addressing two 'key questions' — security guarantees and what will happen after the conflict ends. The Ukrainian delegation, with Europe's support, insists that first there must be a ceasefire, and that Europe's future security architecture should be discussed over time. The source emphasized that the parties are currently focused precisely on this issue.

Statement by the Europeans

Earlier the Europeans issued a statement after a meeting with the Ukrainian delegation in Abu Dhabi. Thus, the talks are taking place against the backdrop of parallel contacts between European countries and Kyiv, while Europe's position itself — support for the sequence 'first a ceasefire, then a security architecture' — is known from the words of the RBC-Ukraine source, and the content of the European statement is not disclosed in the available publications.