Ukrainian and Russian officials wrapped up a "productive" first day of new U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi, Kyiv's lead negotiator said on Wednesday (4 February).
The two-day trilateral meetings come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had exploited a U.S.-backed energy ceasefire last week to stockpile munitions, attacking Ukraine with a record number of ballistic missiles on Tuesday.
"The work was substantive and productive, focused on concrete steps and practical solutions," Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, wrote on X.
A U.S. official, who offered comment on condition of anonymity, also called the talks productive and said they would continue on Thursday morning.
Zelenskyy, speaking in his nightly video address, said it was critical for the talks to lead to real peace and not offer Russia a new opportunity to continue the war. Ukraine's partners, he said, had to exert more pressure on Moscow.
"It must be felt now. People in Ukraine must feel that the situation is genuinely moving toward peace and the end of the war, not toward Russia using everything to its advantage and continuing attacks," Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian president added that Kyiv expects the talks to result in a new prisoner exchange in the near future.
In a separate interview with French television channel France 2, Zelenskyy said the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war with Russia was estimated at about 55,000.
He added that in addition to those killed, a “large number” of people were officially listed as missing.
Meanwhile, in Paris, diplomatic sources said French President Emmanuel Macron’s most senior diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, met Russian officials at the Kremlin on Tuesday.
One source said the talks were aimed at maintaining dialogue on key issues, particularly Ukraine, but provided no further details.
Shortly after the talks began, Russian forces struck a crowded market in eastern Ukraine with cluster munitions, killing at least seven people and wounding 15, the Donetsk region's Governor Vadym Filashkin said.
Photographs released earlier in the day by the United Arab Emirates' foreign ministry showed the three delegations sitting around a U-shaped table, with U.S. officials seated at the centre, including special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump's administration has pushed both Kyiv and Moscow to find a compromise to end the four-year-old war, but the two sides remain far apart on key points despite several rounds of talks with U.S. officials.
"The good news is that for the first time in a very long time, we have technical military teams from both Ukraine and Russia meeting in a forum that we'll also be involved in with our experts," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Washington on Wednesday.
"I don't want to say talks alone is progress, but it's good that there's engagement going on."
The most sensitive issues are Moscow's demands that Kyiv give up land it still controls and the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, which sits in a Russian-occupied area.
Moscow wants Kyiv to pull its troops out of all the Donetsk region, including heavily fortified cities regarded as one of Ukraine's strongest defences, as a precondition for any deal.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russian troops would keep fighting until Kyiv made "decisions" that could bring the war to an end.
Russia occupies about 20% of Ukraine's national territory, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region seized before the 2022 invasion. Analysts say Russia has gained about 1.5% of Ukrainian territory since early 2024.
"Russia is not winning its war against Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told online media outlet Liga on Tuesday.
Polls show that the majority of Ukrainians oppose a deal that hands Moscow more land. Kyiv residents told Reuters they were sceptical that new talks would bring a major breakthrough.
"Let's hope that it will change (something), of course. But I don't believe it will change anything now," said Serhii, 38, a taxi driver.
"We will not give in, and they will not give in either," he added.
The first round of talks was held in the UAE last month.
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Russian attacks killed at least six people across three Ukrainian regions on Friday, regional officials said, as Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure continued to add pressure to fuel supplies inside Russia.
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