KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two days of talks involving representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the United States wrapped up Saturday with “constructive” discussions on “possible parameters” for ending the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Negotiators will return to the United Arab Emirates for the next round on Feb. 1, according to a U.S. official who described the meetings as upbeat and positive.
The talks are the first known instance that officials from the Trump administration have sat down with both countries as part of Washington’s push for progress to end Moscow’s nearly 4-year-old invasion.
“All parties agreed to report to their capitals on each aspect of the negotiations and to coordinate further steps with their leaders,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
The meetings covered a broad range of military and economic matters and included the possibility of a ceasefire before a deal, said the official. There was not yet an agreement on a final framework for oversight and operation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is occupied by Russia and is the largest in Europe.
The power generated from the plant will be shared “on an equitable basis,” according to the official, but control of it was still undecided.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said there was “an understanding of the need for American monitoring and control of the process of ending the war and ensuring real security.”
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner participated alongside Ukrainian officials, including chief negotiator Rustem Umerov and Kyrylo Budanov, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff. Russia sent military intelligence and army representatives, according to Zelenskyy.
While Zelenskyy said in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday that a potential peace deal was “nearly ready,” certain sensitive sticking points — most notably those related to territorial issues — remain unresolved.
The U.S. official said Russian and Ukrainian officials likely would need to hold further talks in Russia or Ukraine before there was a chance of Zelenskyy meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, or even a joint session with President Donald Trump. There seemed to be momentum to reach the stage of leader meetings, according to the official, who spoke to reporters in Washington on condition of anonymity to describe the private talks in Abu Dhabi.
Just hours before the three-way talks began Friday, Putin discussed a Ukraine settlement with Witkoff and Kushner during marathon overnight talks. The Kremlin insists that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but has not fully captured.
The second day of talks came as Russian drone attacks killed one person and wounded four in the capital, Kyiv, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. In Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, drone attacks wounded 27 people, Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday.
“Cynically, Putin ordered a brutal massive missile strike against Ukraine right while delegations are meeting in Abu Dhabi to advance the America-led peace process,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X. “His missiles hit not only our people, but also the negotiation table.”
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Morton reported from London and Price from Washington.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
