Thursday, February 5, 2026 - Ukrainian and Russian delegations on Wednesday, February 4 began a second round of United States-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi, as efforts continue to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
The two-day trilateral discussions involving Ukraine, the
United States and Russia come amid fresh tensions, after President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy accused Moscow of exploiting a US-backed energy truce last week to
stockpile weapons. Ukraine said Russia followed the truce by launching a record
number of ballistic missiles on Tuesday.
“Another round of negotiations has begun in Abu Dhabi. The
negotiation process started in a trilateral format, Ukraine, the United States,
and Russia,” Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said in a post on
Telegram.
Umerov explained that negotiators would also break into
smaller working groups to address specific issues before reconvening to align
their positions.
Over the past year, US President Donald Trump’s
administration has stepped up pressure on both Kyiv and Moscow to reach a
compromise to end the war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in
2022. Despite several rounds of talks involving US officials, both sides remain
deeply divided on key issues.
Among the most contentious points are Russia’s demand that
Ukraine cede territory it still controls and the future of the Zaporizhzhia
nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is located in a Russian-occupied
area.
Moscow is insisting that Ukraine withdraw its forces from
the entire eastern Donetsk region, including heavily fortified cities
considered vital to Ukraine’s defences, as a condition for any peace agreement.
Ukraine has rejected that demand, saying the conflict should
be frozen along the current front line. Kyiv has ruled out any unilateral
withdrawal of its troops.
Russia currently occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine’s
territory, including Crimea and large parts of the Donbas region seized before
and after the 2022 invasion. Military analysts estimate that Russian forces
have expanded their control by about 1.5 percent since early 2024.
Public sentiment in Ukraine remains strongly opposed to
territorial concessions. Polls indicate most Ukrainians reject any deal that
would hand land to Moscow, and residents in Kyiv expressed little optimism that
the latest talks would lead to a breakthrough.
“Let’s hope it will change something, of course. But I don’t
believe it will change anything now. We will not give in, and they will not
give in either,” said Serhii, a 38-year-old taxi driver in Kyiv.
The first round of the US-brokered talks was held in the
United Arab Emirates last month, marking the first direct public negotiations
between Ukraine and Russia since the early stages of the war.
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