Russia and Ukraine Resume US-Mediated Peace Talks in Abu Dhabi After Nine Months

Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, the venue of the US-mediated peace talks. (Photo: Guilhem Vellut, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

Russia and Ukraine are talking peace again. On Tuesday, November 10, delegations from Moscow and Kyiv opened US-mediated negotiations in Abu Dhabi, their first trilateral meeting in nine months, in a renewed attempt to end a war that has dragged on for nearly five years.

The first day of talks ran for nearly four hours inside the Emirates Palace hotel in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. A second day of negotiations is scheduled for Wednesday, November 11, with both sides returning to the table.

Four Hours of Talks, No Breakthrough Yet

There was no breakthrough on day one, and nobody in Abu Dhabi pretended otherwise. The session ended after almost four hours of discussion with no tangible results announced, according to reports from the talks. Even so, both sides described the atmosphere in positive terms. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the discussions "constructive and quite substantive", while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the meeting as "very productive".

The American side was pleased simply that the meeting took place at all — the first time the three countries had sat together since February, when talks in Geneva failed. Three previous rounds earlier this year also ended without a deal, and hopes of ending Europe's biggest conflict since World War II remain tempered by that record.

Who Is at the Table

The United States is represented by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, both of whom have travelled to Kyiv and Moscow in recent weeks to prepare the ground. Russia's chief negotiator is Vladimir Medinsky, a close aide to President Vladimir Putin who has led Moscow's team since the first direct peace talks in Istanbul in March 2022. Ukraine's delegation is led by Rustem Umerov, the country's foreign intelligence chief and top negotiator.

Representatives of Britain, France and Germany, along with NATO and the European Commission, also joined a coordination meeting with the American mediators before the session began.

What Was on the Table

According to Zelenskyy, the talks were largely about humanitarian issues, including prisoner exchanges and the return of Ukrainian civilians held in captivity, as well as children taken from the country. The release of prisoners is a priority for Kyiv, and the two sides discussed what Zelenskyy called "possible parameters for humanitarian steps".

Beyond that, the negotiators spoke in detail about security guarantees for Ukraine and how to make them work over the long term. Under the proposed framework, Ukraine would get an end to the war, security guarantees and a road map to joining the European Union. One of the biggest sticking points remains control of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, most of which — around 80 to 85 per cent by most estimates — is under Russian control.

Why This Round Matters

The timing adds pressure on all sides. Winter is approaching, and Moscow has renewed its attacks on Ukraine's energy grid. In Washington, President Trump is pushing for a settlement after his party's defeat in the November 3 midterm elections.

For now, the talks continue. A second day in Abu Dhabi will test whether the constructive tone of day one can turn into something more concrete — a ceasefire, a prisoner exchange, or at least an agreement to keep talking.

After nine months of silence between the two sides, the fact that they are in the same room again is a start. Whether it becomes more than that will be decided in the days ahead.

Do you think these talks can finally lead to a ceasefire, or will they end like the previous rounds? Tell us in the comments.