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“We are working in the same formats as yesterday: trilateral
consultations, group work, and further synchronization of
positions,” said Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and
Defense Council chief, who was present at the meeting.
The delegations from Moscow and Kyiv were joined in the capital
of the United Arab Emirates by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff
and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner,
according to Umerov. They were also at last month's talks in the
same place as the Trump administration tries to steer the two
countries toward a settlement.
General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in
Europe, was also present at the talks, according to a spokesman
for the general who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss
sensitive matters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged allied countries
to press Moscow into ending its all-out invasion, which began
almost four years ago on Feb. 24 2022, and said his country
needs security guarantees to deter any postwar Russian attacks.
Ukrainians must feel that there is genuine progress toward peace
and “not toward a scenario in which the Russians exploit
everything to their advantage and continue their strikes,”
Zelenskyy said on social media late Wednesday.
Fighting has continued in parallel with the talks. Russia has
hammered Ukraine’s electricity network, aiming to deny civilians
power and weaken their appetite for the fight, while a grinding
war of attrition continues along the roughly 1,000-kilometer
(600-mile) front line snaking along eastern and southern parts
of Ukraine.
Last year saw a 31% increase in Ukrainian civilian casualties
compared with 2024, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said
in a report published Wednesday.
Almost 15,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and just over
40,000 injured since the start of the war through last December,
according to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission
in Ukraine.
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Emma Burrows in London contributed to this report.
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