Ukraine & Russia Quietly Signal A ‘Little Flexibility’ On Territory In Abu Dhabi Talks

The first day of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine, the United States held in Abu Dhabi has ended, with the second full day to take place Wednesday.

The BBC, citing US officials, has said that Ukraine and Russia have privately shown “a little bit of flexibility” over disputed territory.

The US official still cautioned that land disputes will unlikely be resolved without agreement on post-war security arrangements. “They will not solve the Donetsk issue and the territorial issue until they know what the security architecture is going to be after the war,” the official remarked.

President Putin has never backed off his insistence that Ukraine recognize Russian control over Crimea and the four annexed oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. 

The demand includes that Ukraine remove all its troops from these territories, and even locations that Russian forces have never held. It also includes permanent political reconition.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov again emphased the point this week, on Monday saying: “As for Ukraine’s shape, from a geographical point of view, it is already a different country. The realities on the ground are obvious; hardly anyone can deny them.”

As for President Zelensky, he said on X just before his negotiating team went into the talks: “At the meetings in Abu Dhabi, our team will propose de-escalatory steps, and there must be an understanding of how to arrange a trilateral meeting at the leaders’ level to bring this war to an end fairly and for real.”

Upon the conclusion of the trilateral meeting’s first day, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there is still much work to be done, calling the talks in Abu Dhabi “productive” – while saying the goal is to expand trilateral Ukraine talks, to include the Europeans.

Significantly, the Russian and Ukrainian representatives are finally in the same room:

But Moscow has repeatedly balked at the Europeans getting a seat at the table, pointing out that this defeats the very concept of ‘trilateral’ talks.

Russia has said that it presumes the Ukrainians and Americans will have their own consulations with the EU, and that this doesn’t need to muddle the Abu Dhabi talks.

Ukraine’s chief negotiator Rustem Umerov has said of the Europeans, “We will align our positions and coordinate steps ahead of the next stage of negotiations.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the European presence on the sidelines a PR stunt to give Ukraine media support.

US Special Envoy Jared Kushner:

The question we get asked the most from the Europeans is, are the Russians and this President Putin really ready for peace? From what Steve and I have heard from him, we can say very strongly we believe so, under the right conditions. The Russians ask the same questions of the Ukrainians and the Europeans: are they really genuinely ready for peace?