Kremlin calls Ukraine peace talks in UAE ‘constructive’

The Kremlin made a positive assessment of the Ukrainian-Russian peace talks held in the United Arab Emirates under the mediation of the USA.

“Two days of constructive and at the same time very complex work were carried out,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, according to Russian news agencies. he said.

Peskov said that the work will continue.

Delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States met in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and Thursday for a new round of talks aimed at ending Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine.

I had a daily coordination meeting. Today, reports were presented on the situation in Kiev and region, Kharkiv and Poltava regions, Kropyvnytskyi and region, Vinnytsia and Dnipro regions, Zaporizhia and communities along the Russian border and near the front line. (@ZelenskyyUa) February 6, 2026

No concrete results were presented, but in parallel with the negotiations, the exchange of more than 300 prisoners of war took place.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that he viewed the performance of air forces in some parts of the country as “inadequate” and that steps were being taken to improve the response to large-scale Russian drone attacks on civilian areas.

Russia’s repeated air strikes in recent months have focused on Ukraine’s power grid, causing power outages during the bitterly cold winter months and disrupting families’ heating and water supplies.

Zelenskiy said further U.S.-brokered meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations were planned “in the near future, probably in the United States.”

Zelenskiy said he discussed with the defense minister and air force commander what new air defense measures Ukraine needed to counter Russian bombing.

He did not give detailed information about what to do.

The air force stated that Russia fired 328 drones and 7 missiles at Ukraine throughout the night and in the early morning hours, and claimed that the air defense shot down 297 drones.

One person was killed and two others were injured in an overnight Russian attack on the central Dnipropetrovsk region using drones and powerful glider bombs, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration.

A Russian airstrike in the southern Zaporizhia region in the early hours of the day injured eight people and damaged 18 apartment blocks, according to the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov.

It also hit a dog shelter in the regional capital, killing 13 dogs, said Rehina Kharchenko, secretary of the Zaporizhzhya City Council.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday expressed doubts about possible direct talks between European heads of state or government and Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending the war.

During a trip to Abu Dhabi, Merz recalled Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to Moscow, which he said resulted in “heavy bombardments, including of a children’s hospital in Kiev” just a few days later.

“I do not want to engage in talks that will lead to such results,” Merz said.

He said that Europeans could only participate in the negotiation process in coordination with each other, Ukraine and the United States, if it would be beneficial.

French President Emmanuel Macron had recently spoken in favor of direct talks between European leaders and Putin.

Foreign policy advisor Emmanuel Bonne traveled to Moscow this week.

Merz said this move was “carried out in close coordination with us.” We’ve been talking about this for a while.

with AP