Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine entered a second day in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday as mediators sought a new security framework involving Kyiv, Moscow, and Europe.
Zelenskyy Welcomes Constructive US Mediation in Peace Talks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed what he described as a change in the approach of US mediators as peace talks with Russia entered their second day in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, although no breakthrough has been announced.
“I see changes. I’m very happy with what I hear,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Copenhagen on Tuesday, describing the discussions as “constructive and quite substantive”.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio characterized the talks as “very productive”, and US envoy Jared Kushner said that Washington had successfully narrowed the distance between the two parties without offering further specifics.
Disputes over geography remain a central obstacle, as Moscow insists that Ukrainian forces pull back from eastern zones, including parts still under Kyiv’s administration. According to Zelenskyy, Russian negotiators falsely asserted that Moscow’s troops had already taken half of the remaining Ukrainian-controlled sections of Donbas.
Zelenskyy said that Kyiv’s team disproved these assertions using video footage, while General Alexus Grynkewich—who was likewise in attendance in Abu Dhabi—verified that Ukrainian maps of the battlefield aligned more closely with reality.
The Ukrainian leader expressed his view that Vladimir Putin was receiving inaccurate information concerning military gains and held the conviction that his army could seize the remaining eastern territories controlled by Ukraine within a matter of months, despite having failed to secure total dominance over Donbas since the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
Following the Minsk ceasefire accords of 2014–15, Moscow utilized those intervening years to strengthen its political and military standing in eastern Ukraine prior to initiating its full-scale assault in February 2022.
Russia’s delegation will again be led by Vladimir Medinsky, who has participated in most talks with Ukraine since the unsuccessful first set of discussions in March 2022. The upcoming discussions will incorporate Deputy Foreign Ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin alongside Yury Zhigarlovsky, who serves as the deputy head of the General Staff’s operations directorate, and military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov, marking the first time these officials have joined the talks.
Washington Seeks New Security Architecture Involving Europe and Russia
The ongoing diplomatic talks also involve efforts by Washington and Moscow to tackle broader security structures across Europe. Kushner said that the United States aimed to establish a fresh security architecture involving Russia, Ukraine, and Europe, whereas an insider within the Russian delegation said that concluding the conflict represented merely one item on Moscow’s overall agenda.
“We need to have the Europeans at the table,” Kushner told POLITICO.
“We have relayed to President Putin directly several times and to his team that the only way to get this done is to have them by our side and I think they are receptive to it. I believe that hopefully tomorrow in Moscow, Steve and I will be successful and President Putin will give the blessing for that to occur. I think that if he agrees to that we will be able to make a lot more progress on the issues that matter,” Kushner added.
European officials have held separate consultations in Abu Dhabi but are not part of the trilateral talks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed their presence, stating that they flew to Abu Dhabi and could sit there in the hotel. Rubio, however, said Europeans would eventually need to join the negotiations because they were part of solving the problem.
To foster trust between the warring nations, Kushner revealed that Russia and Ukraine had reached an accord regarding what is anticipated to be the largest swap of detainees since the conflict began. Russian state-controlled news agency Tass confirmed that a “large-scale” prisoner exchange had been agreed. Zelenskyy said that the parties were weighing exchanges of 1,000 individuals on each side, or potentially 1,500 per side, with American representatives anticipated to visit Russia for subsequent discussions.
This current initiative comes on the heels of the May 2025 talks in Istanbul, during which Kyiv and Moscow agreed to a mutual exchange of 1,000 prisoners apiece despite failing to attain a truce. Up to this point, diplomatic breakthroughs have been limited exclusively to humanitarian agreements and prisoner swaps, with no progress achieved toward a comprehensive ceasefire or peace settlement.