Delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the United States held nearly four hours of talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, reopening direct negotiations over the war for the first time since February as Washington renewed its effort to secure an agreement.
The United Arab Emirates hosted the meeting, with its foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, attending the opening. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the three countries had begun another round of trilateral negotiations in the capital on 10 November.
United States envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were involved in the American effort. Washington’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, described the discussions as productive, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterised them as constructive and substantive. The descriptions did not amount to the announcement of a ceasefire or a peace settlement.
The delegations discussed humanitarian questions, including possible prisoner exchanges, the fate of civilians detained during the war and Ukrainian children taken into Russia. Security guarantees for Ukraine and the conditions that would govern any cessation of hostilities also featured in the talks.
Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service said the first day’s negotiations had concluded and would resume on Wednesday, 11 November. Ukrainian officials said the agenda included ending hostilities, dependable security guarantees and measures for economic recovery.
The talks represent the first substantive direct negotiations among the three sides in approximately nine months. Several previous diplomatic initiatives have produced prisoner exchanges and limited humanitarian arrangements, but have failed to end the fighting or bridge the parties’ differences over territory and security.
Russia has demanded that Ukraine relinquish territory claimed by Moscow and accept restrictions affecting its military and prospects for joining NATO. Ukraine has rejected territorial concessions imposed as a condition of peace and maintains that any settlement must protect its sovereignty and future security.
Those divisions remained in place after the opening session. No text of an agreed settlement was released, and the participants had not announced a comprehensive ceasefire by the time Tuesday’s talks adjourned.
The talks took place while combat continued. Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure and other targets were reported during the period leading up to the meeting, with deaths and disruption to electricity supplies. Ukraine has also continued military operations against Russian targets.
European governments are closely involved in the wider security discussion, although their representatives were not part of the central three-party format. European officials have argued that a durable settlement cannot be negotiated without Ukraine and the countries whose security would be affected.
Speaking at the opening, Sheikh Abdullah reiterated the UAE’s willingness to host diplomatic engagement and support dialogue. The Gulf state has previously facilitated exchanges of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine, giving it an established role in humanitarian contacts between the two countries.
The humanitarian agenda remains especially important for families seeking the return of prisoners, civilians and children separated by the war. A new prisoner exchange was among the possibilities discussed, although no fresh exchange was confirmed at the conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting.
Washington’s renewed diplomacy comes more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The war has displaced millions of people, damaged infrastructure and altered security and energy policy across Europe.
The delegations are expected to continue discussions on Wednesday. Whether the talks produce concrete arrangements will depend on negotiations over issues that remained unresolved after the first day.
Featured image: Archival view of Abu Dhabi photographed in 2017 from Saadiyat Island by comedian44, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Unmodified location photograph; it does not depict the November 2026 negotiations.
