Three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States opened in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the first trilateral meeting on ending the war in Ukraine since February. The two-day session, running 10–11 November, is set to focus on security guarantees for Ukraine and the territorial questions at the heart of the conflict, according to the Associated Press and Xinhua.
The American delegation is led by special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Ukraine’s team is headed by Rustem Umerov, chief of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, and includes Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Presidential Office, along with Davyd Arakhamia, Serhii Kyslytsia and Vadym Skibitskyi. Russia’s delegation is led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who has headed Moscow’s negotiating team since the first direct talks in Istanbul in March 2022, and includes deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin.
Umerov said on social media that the day began with a meeting between the Ukrainian team, the US envoys and representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, NATO and the European Commission, before moving to the trilateral format. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the negotiations themselves would remain trilateral, with Europeans not formally taking part.
Private flexibility on territory
A US official briefing reporters on the eve of the talks said Moscow and Kyiv had shown “a little bit of flexibility, privately” over who would control Ukraine’s eastern regions after the war, the BBC reported. The official said the territorial question, including the future of Donetsk, would not be settled until both sides knew what postwar security arrangements would look like. Public positions on both sides remain far apart, and no breakthrough has been announced.
US officials said they had discussed with Russia security guarantees for Ukraine similar to Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty. Proposals under discussion include security consultations, crisis hotlines, reciprocal de-escalation measures and a possible revival of the NATO-Russia Council, according to the BBC.
Kushner says Putin open to a deal
Kushner told negotiators at the opening session that Washington believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared to reach a peace agreement under the right conditions, based on extensive discussions with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the past two months. That assessment is Washington’s view of Putin’s intentions, rather than a new commitment announced by the Russian president.
Umerov said his delegation had received a mandate from Zelenskyy to address the issues necessary to end the war. Medinsky said Moscow hoped the expanded negotiations would help advance peace in the interests of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. The talks continue on Wednesday, with security guarantees and the framework for postwar European security expected to dominate.
Sources: AP via swadesi.com (10 Nov 2026); Xinhua via People’s Daily Online (10 Nov 2026); BBC/AFP via todaynewsbrief.com (10 Nov 2026).
