Abu Dhabi hosts Russian-Ukrainian and US negotiations
Abu Dhabi will host negotiations between Moscow, Kyiv and Washington on Wednesday in a bid to end four years of war in Ukraine, following new large-scale Russian strikes on energy facilities.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to end the war after Moscow resumed its attacks on Kyiv after a week-long suspension due to extreme cold, mediated by Trump.
While talks for peace continues, Russian attacks on Ukraine continues as well, as three people were killed in the Zaporizhzhia region by Russian shelling, while two people were killed in Dnipro, according to local authorities.
The Russian attack, which used drones and missiles, caused further outages in heating sources in Kyiv and other cities, as temperatures reached minus 20 degrees.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday: “Every Russian strike of this kind confirms that Moscow’s behavior has not changed, they are still betting on the war and the destruction of Ukraine, and they don’t take diplomacy seriously”.
“The work of the diplomatic team will be adapted accordingly,” he said, without providing details.
On Wednesday, Moscow’s delegation for negotiations had arrived in Abu Dhabi.
Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States met in the UAE last month to discuss a plan proposed by Washington to end the war.
The biggest point of contention at the moment remains the territory that Moscow claims sovereignty, including areas still under the control of the Ukrainian military in Donetsk, while Kyiv rejects this request, but fears a pro-Moscow US position.
The battles are concentrated in this industrial and mining region in eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv, on the other hand, is demanding a ceasefire on the current contact lines and a freeze on the front.
The new round of negotiations is due to take place on Wednesday and Thursday, after being postponed due to what the Kremlin said were scheduling problems between the three negotiating teams.
The Ukrainian delegation is headed by the head of the National Security Council and Minister of Defense Rustam Amirov, who is known for his diplomatic acumen.
The delegation includes the new Director of the Office of the President, Kyrylo Budanov, who was the head of military intelligence.
The Russian delegation is headed by Igor Kostikov, the head of military intelligence, a naval officer who is under Western sanctions for his role in the invasion of Ukraine.
The US delegation was in the previous round led by Steve Witkoff, and is expected to remain so.
Russia currently controls 20% of Ukraine’s territory and has previously threatened to achieve its goals by force if diplomacy fails.
Zelensky, on the other hand, stresses that his country is ready to continue fighting.
Ukraine is suffering from its worst energy crisis since the war began this winter, after Russian strikes destroyed the electricity grid, heating and water supply.
After a brief lull at Trump’s request, the Russian military on Tuesday resumed its large-scale strikes on Ukraine.
The strikes caused extensive damage to energy facilities and left thousands of people in the cold.
On the ground, the forces accelerated their advance during the month of January, taking twice as much control as they had in the previous month, according to data from the American Institute for the Study of War.
