Talks with US and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi were constructive but major
challenges remain, Kremlin says
[January 27, 2026]
Negotiations aimed at ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are yielding
apparent signs of progress, but major challenges remain on the path to a
final settlement, a senior Kremlin official said Monday.
Talks between envoys from Ukraine, Russia and the United States in
recent days in Abu Dhabi were constructive and another round is planned
for next week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
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.”
Officials revealed few details of the talks held on Friday and Saturday,
which were part of a yearlong effort by the Trump administration to
steer the sides toward a peace deal and end almost four years of all-out
war.
While Ukrainian and Russian officials have agreed in principle with
Washington’s calls for a compromise, Moscow and Kyiv differ deeply over
what an agreement should look like.
Meanwhile, the grinding war of attrition along the roughly
1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line snaking through eastern and
southern Ukraine has dragged on, and Ukrainian civilians are enduring
another winter of hardship after Russian bombardment of cities in the
rear.
Dispute over land is unresolved, Zelenskyy says
U.S. President Donald Trump has set out deadlines for an agreement and
threatened additional sanctions on Moscow, but Russian President
Vladimir Putin apparently hasn’t budged from his public demands.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also described the Abu Dhabi
talks as constructive, although he noted that “addressed complex
political issues ... remain unresolved.”
A new round of trilateral meetings is expected later this week,
Zelenskyy said, without giving a date.
Negotiators will return to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for more
talks, according to a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The weekend
talks covered a broad range of military and economic matters and
included the possibility of a ceasefire before a comprehensive deal, the
official said.
Zelenskyy said Sunday that a document setting out U.S. security
guarantees for Ukraine in a postwar scenario is “100% ready,” although
it still needs to be formally signed.
[to top of second column]
|
U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff, right, and
Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev arrive to attend the talks with
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Senate Palace of the
Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik,
Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Kyiv has insisted on postwar American security commitments as part
of any broader peace agreement with Moscow after Russia’s 2014
illegal annexation of Crimea and support for separatist rebels in
eastern Ukraine, followed by its full-scale invasion in February
2022.
German diplomat urges Kremlin to be flexible on land issue
Zelenskyy has acknowledged that there are fundamental differences
between Ukrainian and Russian positions, though he said last week
that peace proposals are “nearly ready.”
A central issue is whether Russia should keep or withdraw from areas
of Ukraine its forces have occupied, especially Ukraine’s eastern
industrial heartland called the Donbas, and whether it should get
land there that it hasn’t yet captured.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Monday chided Moscow for
its “stubborn insistence on the decisive territorial issue.”
He said during a visit to Latvia that “if there is no agility here,
I am afraid that the negotiations may take a long time or will not
be successful now.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that air defenses downed 40
Ukrainian drones late Sunday and early Monday, including 34 over the
Krasnodar region and four over the Sea of Azov.
Krasnodar officials said drone fragments fell on two industrial
plants in the city of Slavyansk, sparking fires that were
extinguished. One person was injured, they said.
Ukraine’s general staff said an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region
was targeted by Ukrainian forces. The facility supplied the Russian
military, it added.
Russian forces launched 138 drones at Ukraine overnight, 110 of
which were shot down or suppressed, Ukraine’s air force said, and 21
of them hit targets in 11 locations.
___
Associated Press writers Kamila Hrabchuk and Susie Blann in Kyiv,
Ukraine, and Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
