Trilateral talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine began in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to discuss a peace settlement and security guarantees acceptable to Moscow.
The negotiations, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, focus on post-war security arrangements for Ukraine. Europe will be represented by officials from leading national governments, NATO and the EU, a senior EU diplomat confirmed. The Kremlin has said it will send senior diplomats and military officials. Security guarantees for both Russia and Ukraine are high on the agenda.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that post-war security guarantees for Ukraine must be acceptable to Russia. "It has to be something that Russia agrees to as well in order for it to work," he said. American officials have asked Moscow for permission to provide Ukraine with guarantees modeled on NATO's Article 4 and Article 5, a U.S. official said. Article 4 provides for consultations when a member is threatened. Article 5 treats an attack on one member as an attack on all. Some European states have considered sending their own troops to Ukraine after a potential peace agreement. Russia has rejected that scenario, declaring foreign forces legitimate targets.
The talks follow Russia's signal of unusual flexibility on ending fighting along current front lines. This flexibility appeared only after American negotiators offered to broaden the talks to include a wider discussion about European security. The Washington Post reported that Russia had already achieved a strategic success by persuading the United States to engage in a wider debate about European security. President Donald Trump's heavy defeat in the midterm elections has injected new urgency into the process, insiders report.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia intends to split Ukraine along the Dnipro River. He cited sustained attacks on bridges and the power grid. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia has failed to keep at least 30 international agreements on sovereignty and territorial integrity. "Our problem is that Russia is not keeping to those agreements," she said, citing the Budapest Memorandum under which Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons.
The United States wants to expand the trilateral format to include Europeans in two parallel tracks. The proposal is backed by Ukraine and European partners, a U.S. official said. American negotiators have offered controversial incentives to coax Moscow. These include reconnecting Russia to European energy markets and redrawing administrative boundaries to allow Russia to claim full control of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Rubio said the United States is not a combatant in the war and can only serve as a facilitator.
