The key facts

  • Talks in Abu Dhabi mediated by the US ended without progress on territories, security guarantees, and a ceasefire
  • The sides once again agreed on a broad prisoner exchange
  • Positions on the territorial issue remained unchanged: Medinsky said that 'every inch of Russian land will return to Russia,' while Zelensky rejected concessions

Round outcome: prisoner exchange yes, substantive progress no

Another round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, organized with US mediation in Abu Dhabi, ended without significant movement toward a settlement. According to Forbes, the sides once again agreed on a large-scale prisoner exchange, but failed to reach agreement on any of the three key issues of the war — territories, long-term security guarantees, and ceasefire mechanisms.

Territorial issue: positions unchanged

Russia still lays claim to the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions: Vladimir Putin has previously repeatedly called on Ukrainian forces to withdraw troops from these regions, although, according to analysts, part of their territory remains under Ukrainian control. The head of the Russian delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, said at the talks: 'Every inch of Russian land will return to Russia.' One of the American proposals envisaged a revision of Ukraine's administrative borders to allow Russia to establish full control over the Donbas. President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected these demands, stressing that Ukraine is 'not a piece of real estate,' and expressed a preference for a ceasefire along the current line of contact. Neither side changed its position during the round.

Security guarantees: dispute over format and NATO

At the talks, Ukraine sought legally binding agreements to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. American negotiators proposed creating a NATO-style structure for Ukraine based on Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty (collective defense) or Article 4 (consultations when one member of the alliance is threatened). Russia, for its part, once again confirmed that it opposes Ukraine's NATO membership and opposes Kyiv joining any military alliance — Medinsky voiced this position in Abu Dhabi as well.

What this means

The outcome of the round shows that the negotiation process retains limited effectiveness: humanitarian arrangements, such as prisoner exchanges, remain achievable, while the three central issues of the war continue to block a settlement. No new rounds of talks or changes in the parties' positions were reported in available publications.