Ukraine talks advance but challenges linger: Russia

Negotiations aimed at ending Russia’s occupation of Ukraine are showing clear signs of progress, but major challenges remain on the road to a final solution, a Kremlin spokesman said.

Talks between envoys from Ukraine, Russia and the United States in Abu Dhabi in recent days were constructive and a new round is planned for next week, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He reported no major breakthrough so far, however, and added: “The very fact that these contacts have begun in a constructive way can be assessed positively but there is still serious work ahead”.

The report prepared by our delegation after the meetings with the American and Russian parties in the UAE. This was the first format of tripartite dialogue aimed at ending the war in a long time. The meetings covered a number of important issues, primarily military, necessary to bring the war to a head… pic.twitter.com/O7tDoaRs0c— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 26, 2026

Officials released few details about talks Friday and Saturday that were part of a yearlong effort by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to steer the sides to a peace deal and end an all-out war that has raged for nearly four years.

Although Ukrainian and Russian officials have accepted the US call for compromise in principle, the two sides have deep disagreements on what an agreement should look like.

Meanwhile, the grinding war of attrition along the nearly 1,000-kilometer front line through eastern and southern Ukraine continues, and Ukrainian civilians endure another harsh winter after Russia bombs cities in the rear.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also described the Abu Dhabi talks as constructive, but noted that “complex political problems remain unresolved.”

Zelenskiy said that the new round of tripartite meetings is expected at the end of this week, without giving a date.

Negotiators will return to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for more talks, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The weekend talks covered a wide range of military and economic issues and included the possibility of a ceasefire before a comprehensive agreement, the official said.

The document setting out US security guarantees for Ukraine in the post-war scenario is “100 percent ready” but still needs to be officially signed, Zelenskiy said on Sunday.

Kiev has insisted on U.S. post-war security commitments as part of a broader peace deal with Russia following its 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine and subsequent large-scale invasion in February 2022.

Although Zelenskiy said last week that peace proposals were “almost ready”, he acknowledged that there were fundamental differences between the positions of Ukraine and Russia.

The main issue is whether Russia should keep the regions occupied by its own forces in Ukraine, especially the industrial region of Donbas in eastern Ukraine, or withdraw from these regions and take the lands there that it has not yet captured.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Monday scolded Russia for its “stubborn insistence on the decisive territorial issue.”

“I fear that if there is no agility here, the negotiations will take a long time or will not be successful at the moment,” he said during a visit to Latvia.

Russia’s defense ministry said Monday that its air defenses shot down 40 Ukrainian drones late Sunday and early Monday, including 34 over the Krasnodar region and four over the Sea of ​​Azov.

Krasnodar officials said that drone parts fell on two industrial facilities in the city of Slavyansk and the fires were extinguished.

They said one person was injured.

Ukraine’s general staff said that an oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region was targeted by Ukrainian forces.

It was stated that the facility supplies materials to the Russian army.

Ukrainian air force said Russian forces launched 138 UAVs into Ukraine overnight, of which 110 were shot down or suppressed and 21 of them hit targets in 11 locations.