‘Changes’ in US approach welcome, Zelenskiy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy yesterday said he was “happy” with US mediators’ change in approach during talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi, and set to continue into a second day, but emphasized the need for security guarantees for his country.

Representatives from Kyiv and Moscow on Tuesday began negotiations in the Emirati capital, the first since February when discussions reached a stalemate and Washington was sidetracked by the Iran war.

US envoys, including US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and businessman Steve Witkoff, are mediating the talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, back, hugs Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen after delivering a speech in the Danish parliament in Copenhagen yesterday.

Photo: EPA

The first meeting lasted several hours and aimed to make progress toward resolving the war in Ukraine and — according to Washington — working on a “new” security framework that includes Europe.

Kushner told delegates the US had “narrowed the gaps” between the warring sides, without providing details, and hoped to move toward a “solution” to Europe’s worst conflict since World War II.

Zelenskiy, speaking in Copenhagen on Tuesday, said the talks were “constructive and quite substantive,” adding that his team had reported that humanitarian issues and security guarantees were among the topics discussed.

Asked about changes in the approach to peace talks by Kushner and Witkoff, Zelenskiy said: “I see changes. I’m very happy with what I hear.”

The Ukrainian president said negotiators in Abu Dhabi were working on a “large-scale exchange of prisoners,” adding that US officials would travel to Russia to discuss the matter further.

However, fighting continued overnight. The governor of Russia’s Leningrad region, Aleksandr Drozdenko, posted on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone attack had sparked a fire at Ust-Luga, a key Baltic port for oil exports.

Russian air defenses also downed 146 drones during “continuing” combat operations, he added.

In Paris, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed this week’s discussions as “very productive” and called for Europeans to be eventually included at the negotiating table “because they are part of solving this problem.”

Zelenskiy also said it was “time” for Europe to choose a representative for the talks.

Europe has been rattled as Trump floated a deal with Russia on rewriting European post-war security, also worrying that Washington would force Kyiv to accept a de facto defeat.

Kushner said the US hoped to “create a new framework” of security between Ukraine, Russia and Europe that would secure “decades, if not centuries, of peace.”

Moscow, which several weeks before invading Ukraine issued an ultimatum to Western countries to roll back troops from eastern Europe, had also said this was a priority.

Ukraine has warned against a “Yalta 2.0,” referring to Western leaders dividing Europe with the Soviet Union after World War II, and the EU has said security arrangements can only be discussed after a ceasefire.

“Putin wants the USSR back,” Zelenskiy told Danish media.

Putin has repeatedly turned down broader ceasefire offers and vowed his troops would press on in Ukraine.

In a sign it is serious about reviving its demand to review Europe’s decades-old security arrangement, Russia included a diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, who lodged Moscow’s pre-invasion demand for NATO to pull back from eastern Europe.

A Russian delegation source had said that settling the war was “merely one item on the agenda,” and that Moscow’s main objective was reviewing security “for the entire continent.”