Negotiators from Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington opened a fresh round of talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, aiming to chart a path toward ending the war.
Abu Dhabi Trilateral Talks Focus on Security Guarantees
The two-day diplomatic session in the capital of the United Arab Emirates marks the third round of talks there this year, following earlier security consultations in January and February. President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are leading the American mediation team.
President Trump is determined to bring an end to this horrible war, which has caused enormous loss of life, destruction, and suffering. We are working hard to find a negotiated solution that can deliver lasting peace and create the conditions for a sovereign, secure, and…
Trump had promised to end the war quickly when he took office in January 2025, but a settlement has remained elusive nearly five years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The three delegations last met in Geneva on February 18.
Since then, Witkoff and Kushner have held various separate meetings with Putin and Zelenskyy. In October, first lady Melania Trump’s office announced she had secured a temporary ceasefire for the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky for humanitarian reasons, which lasted from October 28 to November 1.
Russia’s delegation is headed by Vladimir Medinsky, and Ukraine is being represented by a team led by Rustem Umerov. The discussions center heavily on security guarantees for Ukraine, a long-standing core demand from Kyiv.
working hard to find a negotiated solution that can deliver lasting peace and create the conditions for a sovereign, secure, and prosperous Ukraine within a more stable European security environment.
Jared Kushner, US Presidential Envoy, via CBS News
President Trump told reporters in Washington, DC, that he saw a very strong inclination
toward ending the war and that both sides were tired of fighting,
adding that they were having a very good conversation about the matter in Abu Dhabi. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a cautious note ahead of the meetings, stating that the process still has “a ways to go.”
Trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States have begun in Abu Dhabi. The first photo from the trilateral negotiations between Russia, the United States, and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi has been released. pic.twitter.com/c8a4gbNC1D
Ukrainian Successes Bolster Negotiating Position Amid High Russian Casualties
Ahead of the diplomatic push, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy argued that recent battlefield successes were bolstering his country’s hand at the negotiating table. Ukrainian forces also struck a plant near St. Petersburg that produces solid rocket propellant for Russia’s Iskander-M ballistic missiles.
According to data shared with the Guardian by Pjotr Sauer and data leaked from the state statistics agency Rosstat, more than 400,000 Russians have been killed fighting in Ukraine over nearly five years, reaching levels unprecedented in modern Russian history.
This information was obtained by the Belarusian opposition-linked hacker group Cyber Partisans and the Ukrainian hacking collective Silent Crow, showing 412,576 death certificates explicitly linked to the war through official cause-of-death codes or written combat references. Moscow disputes these figures on losses.
Territorial disputes remain a central stumbling block. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously demanded that Ukraine pull its troops back from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson—four regions Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022 without fully capturing them—while also demanding that Ukraine abandon its NATO bid, accept strict military limits, and drop restrictions on the Russian language and the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church.
Zelenskyy rejected Putin’s demands to voluntarily cede territory, limit his military, or restrict Western partnerships.
An American official briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity stated that both Russia and Ukraine had privately shown some flexibility on a possible exchange of territory, with each ceding a little under a proposed deal that would provide Ukraine with an end to the war, security guarantees modeled on NATO’s Article 5, and a roadmap to EU accession.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · 🇷🇺 Russia · 🇺🇸 US · 🇦🇪 UAE | CONFIRMED US-mediated Ukraine-Russia talks resume in Abu Dhabi on 10-11 Nov: the 4th round in 2026, after Abu Dhabi (Jan, Feb) and Geneva (Feb). US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff says the focus is post-war security, de-escalation and… pic.twitter.com/tr71BFU9Ed
However, any territorial agreement would most likely come at the end of negotiations once other post-war security frameworks are settled.
Kyiv Seeks European Participation in Trilateral Diplomatic Talks
The Kremlin insisted that European representatives remain excluded from the direct trilateral format. Ukrainian delegates planned to brief their European allies in separate meetings.
Umerov emphasized that Kyiv was working to ensure Europe’s participation in the broader diplomatic process, while EU foreign ministers pressed Rubio at a G7 meeting in Paris to ensure European representation. German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said after talks with Rubio: Europe belongs at this table.
The United States will mediate working-level negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on November 10–11 in Abu Dhabi, advancing President Trump’s mission to end the war. Discussions will focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps…
