Kiev/Moscow, Nov 10. (dpa/GNA) – The first day of talks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), between Moscow and Kiev to find a lasting solution to the war in Ukraine, came to an end on Tuesday, after what Russian state media said was four-and-a-half hours of negotiations.
The peace talks mediated by the United States, were the first such trilateral discussions in eight months. Although US President Donald Trump recently raised expectations of a peace deal with previous comments about a “big, beautiful deal,” observers do not expect a breakthrough from this round of talks, which resume on Wednesday.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said earlier on Tuesday in Moscow that, at the initiative of the US, the negotiations would focus on the key elements of a regional security framework. These security guarantees for Ukraine and Russia are to come into force following a “complete and comprehensive settlement” of the conflict.
He said Russia had drawn up a position paper on what the future security architecture in the Eurasian region should look like.
Russia hopes that the US will be resolute enough to balance the interests of both sides, he said.
The Ukrainian chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said the aim was to achieve a lasting peace. “Our top priorities are the cessation of hostilities, reliable post-war security guarantees, the economic recovery and development of Ukraine, and humanitarian measures,” Umerov said in a post on Telegram.
Alongside Umerov, the Ukrainian delegation includes presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, First Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya, deputy military intelligence chief Vadym Skibitsky and presidential party parliamentary leader Davyd Arakhamia.
The Russian chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said an end to the war was needed in the interests of both the Ukrainian and Russian people.
The Russian team includes Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, and General Staff officers Igor Kostyukov and Yuri Shigarlovsky.
The last trilateral meeting took place in Geneva in February, following two previous meetings in Abu Dhabi.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is not in the UAE, stated that Ukraine and its partners were ready to work constructively “on de-escalation measures, the development of effective security guarantees, and moving toward genuine peace.”
Trump’s Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are mediating the talks. Kushner said tensions were high, but that he hoped for two productive days of negotiations.
Many ideas under discussion had been worked out by the US, together with the Europeans and Ukrainians, he said. Kushner also noted that Washington had held constructive talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky in recent months.
Before the start of the trilateral talks with Russia, Western allies including Kushner and Witkoff, first met with the Ukrainian negotiating team. Representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, NATO and the European Commission took part in the meeting, according to a Telegram post by Umerov, who is head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service.
With Western support, Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion for more than four and a half years. Negotiations to date, mediated by the US, have not yielded a breakthrough.
However, the warring parties have already reached agreement on several occasions regarding humanitarian actions, including the exchange of prisoners of war and the remains of soldiers.
European states are not directly at the table during the trilateral talks, something that German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Tuesday described as “not entirely” satisfying.
Wadephul described the UAE talks nevertheless as a “significant step” towards Europe being more fully involved in the negotiations in future. “Any meaningful discussions about Europe’s security architecture can only be undertaken once a ceasefire in Ukraine has been achieved,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday. “And it must take place in an appropriate forum, in particular with NATO Allies and EU members.”
According to Kushner, the European partners are only being kept informed on the sidelines. A broader format involving European participation is to follow only once progress has been made.
Moscow occupied and annexed large parts of eastern Ukraine, after it invaded in 2022, and has controlled the Crimean Peninsula since a conflict in 2014, amounting in total to about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
Kiev rejects any voluntary withdrawal from the territory it still controls, including the fortified cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Ahead of the latest talks, the two sides again exchanged attacks.
Russia once more targeted energy infrastructure, while Ukraine used drones to set fire to one of Russia’s largest oil refineries in the Leningrad region.
Two people were killed in a Russian attack in the central Ukrainian region of Vinnytsia, Ukrainian authorities said on Tuesday.
GNA