US officials say Kyiv and Moscow show private flexibility on eastern Ukraine ahead of Abu Dhabi talks
US officials say Moscow and Kyiv are privately showing a little flexibility on who would control Ukraine’s eastern regions after the war, even as their public positions on Donetsk remain far apart. Russia, which already occupies most of Donetsk, wants Ukraine to hand over the remainder; Kyiv wants the contact line frozen so it keeps those areas, which it calls essential to its future security. A US official said neither side will settle Donetsk or other territorial questions until a postwar security architecture is clear, and that one cannot be finalised without the other.
Senior officials from Moscow, Kyiv and Washington meet in Abu Dhabi for the first trilateral talks since Geneva in February, with the fifth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion approaching. Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is on the US team with peace envoy Steve Witkoff; Kushner said the focus is both sides’ postwar security concerns and serious thinking about what comes after the fighting. For Ukraine, architecture could mean allied help if it is attacked again; for Russia, a longstanding aim of rolling Nato back from eastern Europe, which would alarm Europeans. Officials described a possible framework of security consultations, crisis hotlines, reciprocal de-escalation, and reactivating the Nato-Russia Council largely paused since 2022.
After Geneva produced no breakthrough, attention shifted when the US-Israel war on Iran began, and talks stalled. European leaders, largely shut out, want a say: Ursula von der Leyen urged Nato allies and EU members into any meaningful discussion of Europe’s security, and Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly asked that Europe join. Washington would propose a multilateral format and hopes to get Russia on board, while noting Moscow’s “bad taste” toward Europeans. Trump, who once said he could end the war in a day, has led several unsuccessful rounds; after meeting Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Washington last week he touted a forthcoming “big, beautiful agreement” that might involve all of Europe. Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko, who chairs the foreign affairs committee, told the BBC he sees a quick deal at Ukraine’s expense and argues only heavier sanctions and deep strikes would give Putin a reason to negotiate while his war machine is running.
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