Ukraine is waiting for the United States to set a date to sign a crucial security guarantees document. Talks in Abu Dhabi show limited progress amid ongoing Russian missile strikes.
Ukraine is waiting for the United States to set a date to sign a security guarantees document that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said is “100% ready”, as fragile US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi with Russia showed limited movement but no breakthrough.
Speaking at a news conference during a visit to Vilnius, Zelenskyy said the guarantees were key to Ukraine’s position amid negotiations continuing nearly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“For us, security guarantees are first and foremost guarantees of security from the United States. The document is 100 per cent ready, and we are waiting for our partners to confirm the date and place when we will sign it,” he said.
“The document will then be sent for ratification to the US Congress and the Ukrainian parliament,” Zelenskyy added.
SECURITY GUARANTEES AT CORE OF TALKS
Zelenskyy’s comments came after two days of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, where Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met alongside US mediators for the first trilateral discussions under Washington’s proposed framework for ending the war. While no agreement emerged, both Moscow and Kyiv indicated a willingness to continue dialogue.
On Sunday, Zelenskyy suggested that the talks had narrowed some differences. “(In Abu Dhabi) the 20-point (US) plan and problematic issues are being discussed. There were many problematic issues, but now there are fewer,” he said.
However, he made clear that the fundamental divide between the two sides are still wide. According to Zelenskyy, Russia is pressing Ukraine to abandon eastern regions it has failed to seize militarily, a demand Kyiv continues to reject.
“These are two fundamentally different positions – Ukraine’s and Russia’s. The Americans are trying to find a compromise,” he said, adding that all sides, “including the Americans”, must be prepared to compromise.
MORE TALKS EXPECTED DESPITE NO DEAL
US officials said further discussions were expected next Sunday in Abu Dhabi. One US official, speaking after the talks, said the atmosphere had been constructive. “We saw a lot of respect in the room between the parties because they were really looking to find solutions,” the official said, as per Reuters.
“We got to real granular detail and (we feel) that next Sunday will be, God willing, another meeting where we push this deal towards its final culmination,” the official added.
A spokesperson for the UAE government said there had been rare face-to-face engagement between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators, with discussions covering “outstanding elements” of the US peace framework. The official also raised the possibility of future meetings in Moscow or Kyiv before any direct talks involving Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump.
STRIKES OVERSHADOW DIPLOMACY
The negotiations unfolded against the backdrop of intensified Russian attacks. Overnight strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv knocked out power for large parts of the country during sub-zero temperatures, leaving more than a million people without electricity.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of acting cynically. “This barbaric attack once again proves that Putin’s place is not at (US President Donald Trump’s) Board of Peace, but in the dock of the special tribunal,” he wrote on X. “His missiles hit not only our people, but also the negotiation table.”
With inputs from agencies
