US-mediated talks with Russia and Ukraine start

Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US yesterday held talks in Abu Dhabi on ending Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, in the first such meeting in more than nine months.

Europe — alarmed by US President Donald Trump floating a deal with Moscow on European security ahead of the talks — also sent representatives to Abu Dhabi, as another winter of war approaches.

Trump has pushed for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war since returning to power, but previous talks produced no breakthroughs, and the process became sidelined by the US-Israeli war against Iran.

Members of the Ukrainian, right, and Russian delegations, left, hold talks mediated by the US in Abu Dhabi yesterday, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Photo: Ria Novosti via AFP

Europe and Ukraine fear the US might force a deal on Kyiv that would amount to a de facto capitulation, with Trump appearing to pivot toward Moscow this year.

Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions and has dragged on for 56 months, with the Kremlin showing no sign of backing down.

Trump hinted ahead of the talks that Ukraine might have to give up land, saying: “They’re going to end up with a little bit different shape, Ukraine.”

Russia occupies large swathes of Ukraine but, while its troops have grinded westward, they have not been able to seize the whole of the Donetsk region.

Moscow demands Kyiv surrender the parts of the region it still controls, vowing it would otherwise press on with its offensive.

Ukraine — which for more than four and a half years has resisted a far larger invading army at a huge human cost — has ruled out such a withdrawal.

Russia pummeled Ukraine in the run-up to the talks and carried out one of its deadliest strikes yet — with Kyiv saying 55 people were killed in a frontline village as they queued for humanitarian aid.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the intensified strikes were part of Moscow’s strategy of “putting pressure on Ukraine’s position” at the negotiations.

The Ukrainian military yesterday said that Russia had fired 162 drones and one ballistic missile overnight.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the war in February 2022, has repeatedly refused broader ceasefire offers and face-to-face talks with Zelenskiy.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff gathered the enemy sides in Abu Dhabi for the first time since February, when negotiations took place in Geneva.

Russia and Ukraine have held several rounds of failed talks during almost five years of war and hopes for peace are low.