Russia, Ukraine and US Meet in Abu Dhabi as Zelenskyy Claims Battlefield Gains Strengthen Kyiv's Hand

On Monday evening, in his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces were "genuinely strengthening" his country's position at the negotiating table. The next day, delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the United States were due to sit down in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for talks brokered by Washington.

It will be the third round of talks held in the Emirati capital this year, after security consultations in January and February. The three delegations last met together in Geneva on February 18. The American side is led by two envoys of President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have driven Washington's mediation effort.

Zelenskyy said Russia was "suffering record losses," a claim Moscow disputes. He said General Mykhailo Drapatyi had briefed him on Ukraine's military positions, with a report pointing to heavy recent Russian casualties, and that Ukraine's long-range strikes on targets inside Russia, oil facilities among them, were having an effect. He urged the United States to press the Kremlin to end the war, saying Russia could do so and that it was important Washington convince it of that.

In Washington, Trump told reporters he saw a "very strong inclination" toward ending the war and that both sides were "tired of fighting." He described a "very good conversation" under way in Abu Dhabi. Trump promised to end the war quickly when he took office in January 2025, but a settlement remains out of reach nearly five years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

A US official, speaking to reporters on Monday on condition of anonymity, said both Moscow and Kyiv had privately shown some flexibility on a possible exchange of territory. Security guarantees for Ukraine would be a central topic, the official said, including a possible defence commitment modelled on Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty. Any territorial deal would most likely come last, after other matters, including a post-war security framework, were settled.

Territory is where the positions remain far apart. Ukraine wants Russia pushed back to the original border between the two countries, while Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to obtain all of the Donbas region. Russia occupies roughly 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas. The international community has not recognised that occupation, though Trump has previously urged Kyiv to cede territory for a deal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was more cautious than his president, saying the process still has "a ways to go." He said the US would keep trying to be creative in finding ways to help end the war.

According to The Kyiv Independent, Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, will again lead the Ukrainian delegation. Russia's team will be headed by Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide, and will include Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Yuri Zhigarlovsky, a senior military officer.

Officials from France, Germany and the European Commission will travel to Abu Dhabi, but Russia has made clear it does not want Europeans taking part in the negotiations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks would focus on security guarantees and that Europeans would not participate because the format agreed was three-way. He noted that the Americans and the Ukrainians each have their own channels of communication with the Europeans.

What to watch is whether Abu Dhabi yields a security framework, and whether the stated flexibility on territory survives once that question moves from private signals to the table.