Russia, Ukraine and US open first trilateral talks since February in Abu Dhabi

Talks open in Abu Dhabi

Delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the United States began trilateral negotiations on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, in Abu Dhabi, the first round of this kind since February. Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, confirmed the start in a short social media post and said the agenda covered key issues on halting hostilities and moving toward peace. Sources in the Russian negotiating team also confirmed that the talks had begun, but gave no further details. The meetings were scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The round follows renewed discussion of a peace proposal after a summit in Oslo and a trip to St Petersburg by US envoy Steve Witkoff. Before the trilateral session, a Ukrainian delegation met representatives of the European Commission, NATO, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. Umerov said the aim was to compare positions and coordinate the next steps, and he said the American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would join.

Positions and demands

Umerov listed Kyiv's priorities as a ceasefire, reliable security guarantees for the postwar period, economic recovery and development of Ukraine, and humanitarian measures. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the talks would address topics aimed at guaranteeing collective security in the region, along with guarantees that would apply once a full and comprehensive agreement is reached. Moscow is reported to demand that NATO withdraw its military infrastructure from eastern Europe and move its defences to Germany, a return to the position held before new countries joined the alliance after 1997.

Deutsche Welle reports that Moscow also demands Ukraine withdraw its troops from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, regions Russia annexed in 2022, renounce its aspiration to join NATO and accept military limits. Kyiv refuses to cede territory that Russia has not taken by force and rejects restrictions on its armed forces or on its alliances with Western partners. The gap between the two sides on territory, security and NATO remains wide.

Europe on the sidelines

European envoys were excluded from the trilateral table and waited in a separate room while the three delegations met. Russia's delegation was led by Vladimir Medinski, who headed the earlier rounds and is described as a presidential adviser, with deputy foreign minister Serguei Riabkov attending for the first time in this format. The European Union had asked for a more active role, and officials from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, NATO and the EU were scheduled to hold parallel meetings with the Ukrainian delegation and the US mediators.

US mediation is led by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, and Steve Witkoff. Kushner said on Monday that Trump was determined to end the war, which has caused enormous loss of life, destruction and suffering.

Strikes on energy continue

The fighting did not pause during the talks. Russia's Defence Ministry said it had hit two power plants near Kyiv and substations in Vilnogirsk in Dnipropetrovsk province, Kremenchuk in Poltava, Pereiaslav in Kyiv province and Yahotyn in Kyiv province. Moscow said these facilities supply Ukraine's military-industrial complex. Ukraine's deputy energy minister Artiom Nekrásov said power cuts had spread to 12 provinces on Monday, 9 November.

Ukraine has repeatedly struck Russia's oil sector, including refineries, export ports and pipelines, to deprive the Kremlin of export revenue that Kyiv says funds its campaign. After Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries, fuel shortages were reported in at least half a dozen Russian regions, and Karelia reimposed limits on petrol purchases. The war, now more than four and a half years old according to Deutsche Welle, has made attacks on energy a routine part of the fighting.

What comes next

The trilateral sessions were scheduled to continue on Wednesday, 11 November. Ukraine has put a ceasefire at the top of its agenda, while Russia has offered only a general account of the topics it plans to raise. Earlier, Finland's president and Norway's prime minister had held a phone call with Vladimir Putin in late October to discuss ending the invasion. The outcome of the talks has not yet been reported.