Ukrainian and Russian officials have wrapped up their first day of United States-mediated peace talks and are set to reconvene Thursday, according to Kyiv’s chief negotiator.
Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, described Wednesday’s negotiations in Abu Dhabi as “substantive and productive”. Talks are due to continue into a second day, his spokesperson Diana Davityan said, though no major advance towards ending the nearly four-year war was announced.
The positive outlook came despite fears the talks would be marred by a new wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said the latest strikes included one that killed seven people at a crowded market, while others further damaged Kyiv’s power infrastructure amid freezing temperatures.
Nevertheless, the talks “focused on concrete steps and practical solutions”, said Umerov.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an evening address, said it was imperative the talks yield concrete results and that he anticipated a prisoner exchange “in the near future”.
“People in Ukraine must feel that the situation is genuinely moving toward peace and the end of the war, not toward Russia using everything to its advantage and continuing attacks,” Zelenskyy said.
The Kremlin said that the “doors for a peaceful settlement are open,” but that Moscow will continue its military assault until Kyiv agrees to its demands.
The central hurdle in ending the war is the status of embattled eastern Ukraine, where Russia continues to make slow, painstaking advances.
Moscow is demanding that Kyiv withdraw its forces from large parts of the Donbas, including heavily fortified cities atop vast natural resources, as a precondition to any deal.
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