Russia keeps up demand for Ukrainian land as three-way talks begin in UAE | Ukraine

Ukraine, Russia and the United States have begun trilateral talks for the first time since February 2022, when Russia’s large-scale military occupation began, but it is unclear whether Donald Trump will be able to achieve a ceasefire even by applying heavy pressure on Kiev, as the Kremlin continues its maximalist demands for Ukrainian territory.

Friday’s talks in Abu Dhabi are the highest-level summit known between the three sides since the start of the war and come as Trump’s demands to seize Greenland have strained tensions between Ukraine’s western allies; Because the country had a harsh winter and a large part of its civilian energy infrastructure was damaged due to Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the three parties met “at the negotiators’ level” and that “the format has taken place for the first time in a long time.” In a voice note to reporters, he said the Kyiv delegation “knew what to do.” Russia sent a delegation led by GRU military intelligence chief Admiral Igor Kostyukov, stating that the focus was on military rather than political negotiations.

The talks followed the seventh meeting in Moscow between Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin; The main topics of discussion here were Russia’s territorial claims and Ukraine’s security guarantees, which Zelenskyy said had been agreed upon with Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.

Witkoff was accompanied by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Moscow. They were joined by Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). He was recently appointed senior advisor to Trump’s international “peace board” for Gaza.

Kremlin diplomatic advisor Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the talks were “useful in all respects” and that “it was agreed that the first meeting of the tripartite working group on security issues will be held in Abu Dhabi today.”

As talks begin on Friday, the Kremlin reiterated its demand that Kiev withdraw its forces from the eastern Donbas region to end the war.

Other senior Russian officials noted that they demanded that Ukraine take other measures left out of the “20-point peace plan”, which they said were plans to continue regime change in Kiev.

“Any proposed solution based on the fundamental goal of preserving the current Nazi regime over what remains of the Ukrainian state is naturally absolutely unacceptable to us,” Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

Before the talks, a German government spokesman questioned whether Moscow would be willing to accept any of its demands, including the seizure of territory not currently under its military control.

“There are still big questions about the extent to which Russia is actually willing to move away from its maximalist demands,” Steffen Meyer said.

“Nothing will be gained if the peace agreement merely gives Russia some breathing room and allows it to launch new attacks at a later date. That’s why we’ve focused so strongly on the issue of security guarantees.”

Full details of the UAE talks had not been disclosed at the time of writing, and it was unclear whether Russian and Ukrainian officials would meet in person. Zelenskyy said the talks would last two days.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Russia’s position that Ukraine, that is, the Ukrainian armed forces, must leave the territory of Donbas is well known. They must withdraw from there… This is a very important situation.”

The Trump administration is pushing for a peace deal; The US president’s representatives have been shuttling between Kiev and Moscow in a flurry of negotiations that could force Ukraine into an unfavorable deal. Trump said Wednesday that Putin and Zelenskyy would be “fools” if they couldn’t get together and reach an agreement.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, Witkoff said an important issue needed to be resolved, without giving further details.

Zelenskyy said the future situation of the territories Russia occupies in eastern Ukraine has not yet been resolved, but peace proposals are “almost ready.” Both sides had previously emphasized that the land issue was of vital importance.

Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine hand over the 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk that it holds. Zelenskyy has refused to give up territory that Ukraine has successfully defended since 2022 through grinding and costly wars of attrition.

Russia also demands that Ukraine give up its desire to join NATO and denies the presence of NATO troops on Ukrainian territory after the peace agreement.

From Davos, Zelenskyy said: “The Russians need to be ready to compromise because, you know, everyone needs to be ready, not just Ukraine, and this is important for us.” He said post-war security guarantees between Washington and Kiev were in place if an agreement was reached, but that would require approval from each country.

Zelenskyy was speaking after a closed-door meeting with Trump and a stunning Davos speech in which he accused European leaders of being in “Greenland mode” for waiting for US leadership rather than taking action themselves.

Despite Trump’s limited and scattered support for Ukraine since taking office a year ago, Zelenskyy has focused on Europe’s role in the conflict and accused the continent’s leaders of complacency and inaction.

“Last year, I ended my speech in Davos with these words: ‘Europe needs to know how to defend itself,’” he said. “A year has passed and nothing has changed.”

Speaking to reporters on his way back to Washington, Trump said that his meeting with Zelenskyy went well and that the Ukrainian president told him he wanted to make a deal to end the war.

“I had a good meeting, but I’ve had a lot of good meetings with President Zelenskyy and it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen,” he said.