First trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and US open in Abu Dhabi

Ukraine-Russia talks brokered by the US have started in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates' foreign ministry said.

"The talks commenced today in Abu Dhabi and are scheduled to continue over two days, as part of ongoing efforts to promote dialogue and identify political solutions to the crisis," it said.

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators will tackle the vital issue of territory during the talks, each side said, with no sign of a softening of their positions to end the four-year offensive.

Ukraine is under mounting US pressure to reach a peace deal in the conflict triggered by Russia's full-scale offensive in February 2022, with Moscow demanding Kyiv cede its entire eastern industrial area of Donbass before it stops fighting.

'Donbass is key'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the territorial dispute would be a top priority of the talks.

"The question of Donbass is key. It will be discussed how the three sides..., see this in Abu Dhabi today and tomorrow," he said, responding to questions in a WhatsApp media chat a day after talks with US President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos that both leaders described as positive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's demand that Ukraine surrender the 20 percent it still holds of the Donetsk region of the Donbass - about 5,000 sq km - has proven a major stumbling block to a breakthrough deal. Zelenskyy refuses to give up land that Russia has not been able to capture in four years of grinding, attritional action.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia's insistence on Ukraine yielding the Donbass was "a very important condition."

Freezing current frontlines?

A source close to the Kremlin told reporters that Moscow considers a so-called "Anchorage formula," which Moscow said was agreed between Trump and Putin at a summit last August, to mean Russia controlling all of Donbass and freezing the current frontlines elsewhere in Ukraine's east and south.

Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions Moscow said in 2022 it was annexing after referendums rejected by Kyiv and Western nations as bogus. Putin says Donetsk is "historical" Russian territory.

Zelenskyy said on Thursday in Davos that the Abu Dhabi talks would be the first trilateral meetings involving Ukrainian and Russian envoys and US mediators since the conflict began.

Last year Russia and Ukrainian delegations had their first face-to-face meeting since 2022 when they met in Istanbul. A top Ukrainian military intelligence officer also had talks with US and Russian delegations in Abu Dhabi in November.

Russian Admiral Igor Kostyukov, head of Russia's military intelligence agency, was heading Moscow's team in Abu Dhabi. Ukraine's delegation was to be led by Rustem Umerov, secretary of Kyiv's National Security and Defense Council.

Robust security guarantees

Zelenskyy also told reporters that a deal on US security guarantees for Kyiv was ready, and that he was only waiting on Trump for a specific date and place to sign it.

Ukraine has sought robust security guarantees from Western allies in the event of a peace deal to prevent Russia from attacking again. For its part, Russia has floated the idea of using the bulk of nearly $5 billion of Russian assets frozen in the United States to fund a recovery of Russian-controlled territory inside Ukraine. 

Ukraine, backed by European allies, demands that Russia pay it reparations. Asked about Russia's idea, Zelenskyy dismissed it as "nonsense." 

"Of course, we will fight (to use these assets for Ukraine), and it is absolutely fair regarding the use of all frozen assets (by Ukraine)," he added.

Ukraine is enduring its harshest winter of the conflict as Russia inflicts heavy missile and drone strikes on its energy infrastructure. With temperatures well below freezing, hundreds of thousands of people in Kyiv and other cities have suffered long power cuts and been left without heating.

Ukraine cites Russia's escalating attacks on its energy grid as evidence that Putin has no real interest in peace.

Russia says it wants a diplomatic solution but will keep working to achieve its goals by military means as long as a negotiated solution remains elusive.