Ukraine peace talks Abu Dhabi, Digi Mart USA News: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed optimism about trilateral discussions between Russian, Ukrainian and American negotiators in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. He said he was “satisfied” with the change in Washington’s approach to talks with Moscow, which are scheduled to continue on Wednesday, November 11.
Zelensky stressed, however, that Ukraine needs firm security guarantees. The negotiations began under U.S.
mediation, but attacks have not stopped. Kyiv and Moscow began talks on Tuesday, the first meeting between the sides since February, after negotiations stalled while Washington focused on the war in Iran.
According to a Russian delegation source, Wednesday’s session was set to address “de-escalation measures” on energy and Black Sea issues, as described by Zelensky. The source-reported de-escalation remained a subject of discussion rather than a reality, as fighting continued on both sides, raising fears of another winter without heating, running water or electricity for millions of Ukrainians.
A Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at the major Ust-Luga oil port in northwestern Russia on Wednesday and injured three employees, according to Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko. Tass data cited in the report describes it as the largest attack in that region since the start of the year, with at least 150 drones reportedly neutralized.
Strikes and a fire also killed two people in Iartsevo, a Russian town in the Smolensk region near the Belarusian border, the local governor said.
On Tuesday, Russian strikes killed at least three people in Dnipro in central-eastern Ukraine and one in the Odesa region in the south, according to local authorities. These followed “massive” strikes over the previous weekend on energy infrastructure that left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without electricity.
Speaking late Tuesday from Copenhagen, where he was traveling, Zelensky said he was positive after the first day of talks: “I see changes. I am very satisfied with what I hear.
We will see what is possible.” He said the discussions, attended by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, addressed the key question of territory in this first round.
He also said a possible large prisoner exchange between Kyiv and Moscow had been raised.
Moscow demands that Ukrainian troops withdraw from the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, while Zelensky said Kyiv would need “very specific security guarantees” on that issue. U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Tuesday’s talks “very productive” and said the United States aims to eventually expand the format to include Europeans. Zelensky said Europeans should designate a representative to the negotiations in November, while Russia has so far sought to keep Europe out of the discussions.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, has devastated the country and killed hundreds of thousands of people on both sides, becoming the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. Kushner called for a “new” security framework for Ukraine, Russia and Europe to ensure “decades, if not centuries, of peace.” A Russian delegation source said a settlement of the war was “only one element” of a broader goal of creating a security architecture for the entire European continent.
U.S. President Donald Trump, accused of favoring economic cooperation with the Kremlin, predicted last week a “very big deal” with Russia over Ukraine that could “encompass all of Europe.” Kyiv and European leaders reacted by saying they opposed any agreement reached behind their backs.
In a joint statement Tuesday, Europeans and Americans backed “strong European security architectures and arrangements for the post-war period,” while insisting on respect for Ukraine’s “sovereignty” and “territorial integrity.”
Before the talks, a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity described being “cautiously optimistic,” saying both Kyiv and Moscow had shown “a bit of flexibility in private.” Kyiv’s delegation is led by negotiator Rustem Umerov, and Moscow’s by nationalist historian Vladimir Medinsky.
Officially, the two sides’ positions remain far apart. Ukraine is demanding security guarantees strong enough to deter a new attack, including at least ten years of financial support to maintain an army of 800,000 personnel and rebuild infrastructure.
