Russia and Ukraine hold first US-mediated talks in nine months in Abu Dhabi, with no breakthrough announced

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (Nov. 10) — Russia and Ukraine held their first U.S.-mediated talks in nine months on Tuesday, meeting for about four hours in the Emirati capital in a new attempt to end the war, The Associated Press reported. No breakthrough was announced, and a second day of talks is scheduled for Wednesday.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking from Paris, called the meeting "very productive," while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was briefed by his negotiators, said the session had been "constructive and quite substantive," BBC News reported. Neither man attended the talks.

The U.S. side was led by envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, ABC News reported. Ukraine's delegation was headed by Rustem Umerov, the chief of its Foreign Intelligence Service, and included Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Zelenskyy's office, and lawmaker Davyd Arakhamia. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky led the Russian team, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Umerov said in his opening remarks that Kyiv was focused on security guarantees and a lasting peace, according to ABC News. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that security issues concerning Russia, Ukraine and the wider region would top the agenda.

The first U.S.-brokered three-way meeting was held in Geneva in February, and the two sides have remained far apart on key issues since then, ABC News reported. Earlier rounds produced some prisoner-of-war exchanges and short-lived local ceasefires. Trump has said in recent days that the war could end soon.