US-mediated talks on ending Russia-Ukraine war begin in Abu Dhabi
[November 10, 2026]
By BASSAM HATOUM
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Three-way talks between Russia,
Ukraine and the United States opened Tuesday in the United Arab
Emirates, as Washington made another push to end the war that followed
Moscow's all-out invasion of its neighbor nearly five years ago.
The two-day session in the UAE's capital, Abu Dhabi, is the first such
meeting since February. It will focus on establishing future security
guarantees for the warring countries, the White House said before the
discussions. Russia sees NATO as a threat, and Ukraine wants to prevent
future Russian invasions.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who along with
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is trying to broker a settlement, said that he
believed that there were “some good ideas how to bridge” the differences
between the two sides.
But hopes of progress in ending Europe’s biggest conflict since World
War II are tempered by the absence of any significant breakthroughs in
three previous rounds of talks early this year. The war has already
killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians,
analysts and humanitarian organizations say.
There are no signs the fighting is abating, and the talks took place
against a backdrop of new long-range strikes between Russia and Ukraine.
The two armies are largely deadlocked on the front line.
Russia launched 162 drones of various types and a ballistic missile at
Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that its forces shot down
155 Ukrainian drones overnight above eight Russian regions, as well as
the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
“I don’t have overly high expectations” for the talks, German Chancellor
Friedrich Merz said in an interview with ZDF television on Monday night.
Kushner says the U.S. aims to build on past experience
Kushner said in opening remarks at the talks that the goal is to “create
a new framework and a new understanding building upon the different
institutions and understandings of the past.”
“We take what’s worked, we try to identify what’s failed, why we’re in
this position and hopefully create a new framework that leads us for
decades, if not centuries, of peace,” Kushner said.
NATO commander U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who was also present,
pointed to “some great progress in the past in a military-to-military
dialogue in a trilateral format.”
He said that the U.S. delegation looked forward “to working with both
sides as we seek to advance the progress we’ve made in the past and
continue this pursuit to set the foundations for a lasting peace.”
Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service who is
leading Kyiv’s delegation, thanked the U.S. for its efforts to end
Russia's invasion.
“Our people are waiting to end this war. And we hope that we will
achieve the lasting peace for Ukraine,” he said.
Ukrainians meet first with European and NATO officials
The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, noted at the
start of the talks that the Russian delegation “has become bigger and
more professional.”
He expressed hope that the meeting “will allow us to advance on the path
towards peace in the interests of the people of Russia and the people of
Ukraine.”
Umerov said that the day began with a meeting between the Ukrainian
team, the U.S. envoys and representatives from the United Kingdom,
France, Germany, Italy, NATO and the European Commission.
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Foreign minister of the UAE Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan,
left, speaks to Steve Witkoff during the trilateral talks between
Russia and Ukraine mediated by the US in Abu Dhabi, United Arab
Emirates, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, Pool)
Russia and Ukraine hold to their divergent demands
The Russian and Ukrainian governments remain far apart on key
elements of any prospective deal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to pull its troops
back from four regions of Ukraine that Moscow annexed in September
2022 but has never fully captured. He also demands that Ukraine
abandon its bid to join NATO, accept strict limits on its military
and drop restrictions on the Russian language and the
Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
Putin wants a comprehensive peace deal on those conditions and won’t
agree to a general halt in hostilities, arguing that it would only
allow Ukrainian troops to rest and replenish their weapons
stockpiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was visiting Denmark on
Tuesday, rejects Putin’s demands to voluntarily cede territory.
Zelenskyy also rejects any limits on Ukraine's military or its
arrangements with Western partners, which Kyiv sees as essential
security guarantees to stop Moscow from invading again.
Ukraine argues that an immediate ceasefire is the necessary first
step toward negotiating a wider settlement and says a direct meeting
between Putin and Zelenskyy is the only way territorial issues can
be settled. Putin has spurned those suggestions.
Russia and Ukraine send experienced negotiators
The Russian and Ukrainian delegations include senior officials who
have attended previous rounds of talks.
Russia’s chief negotiator is Medinsky, a Putin aide who has led
Moscow’s team since the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in
Istanbul in March 2022. The Russian delegation also includes deputy
foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, military
intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov and deputy chief of the General
Staff’s operational department, Yuri Zhigarlovsky.
Apart from Umerov, the Ukrainian delegation also reportedly includes
Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, his deputy, Sergiy
Kyslytsya, and Davyd Arakhamia, the parliamentary faction leader of
Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.
U.S. says broader European security deal in the works
Last week, Trump declared that some kind of grand deal about
European security was in the works, describing it as “a big
agreement” that is “going to involve more than Ukraine.”
Kushner said Monday on X that a “comprehensive and lasting
settlement will also require direct engagement between Russia and
our European partners on the broader security arrangements that
affect them.”
Moscow has praised the broad approach.
“We can only welcome the (U.S.) negotiators on President Donald
Trump’s request proposing to put the issue of collective security on
top of the agenda of the talks on a Ukrainian settlement,” Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
Some in the European Union see Washington's proposals as too
accommodating to Moscow.
Russia has objected to the Europeans’ involvement in the three-way
talks, but said that EU representatives could join at a later stage.
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