Russia, Ukraine and the US open a new round of war talks in Abu Dhabi
Talks mediated by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff begin with positions far apart on territory, security and NATO; the European Union is left out of the main table.
Translated from the Portuguese original by the Panorama newsroom. Read in Portuguese
Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.
Abu Dhabi is hosting delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States starting this Tuesday (10) in another attempt to end the war that began with Russia's invasion in February 2022, DW reported. The new round comes days after US President Donald Trump mentioned the possibility of a comprehensive agreement covering the conflict and Europe's security.
Mediation will be handled by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. Kyiv's team will be led by Rustem Umerov and will include political and security figures close to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Moscow will be represented by Vladimir Medinsky, an adviser to Vladimir Putin who has headed previous talks between the two countries.
Although it has been calling for a bigger role in the process, the European Union will not have a seat at the main table. According to DW, representatives of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, NATO and the EU will hold parallel meetings with the Ukrainians and the US mediators.
The main obstacle remains the gap between the positions. The Kremlin wants Ukraine to withdraw its soldiers from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, regions it annexed in 2022, give up on joining NATO and accept military limitations.
Kyiv, for its part, will not give up areas that Russian troops have failed to conquer and rejects restrictions on its armed forces or its alliances with Western partners. According to the German broadcaster, the Kremlin's territorial demands and Ukraine's refusal to make concessions have already stalled previous attempts to bring the sides closer, in a conflict that has lasted more than four and a half years.