The first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in nine months have ended their opening day in Abu Dhabi with cautious encouragement from Washington and Kyiv, as United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the session as “very productive” while warning that much work still lies ahead.
The trilateral talks, mediated by the United States, lasted nearly four hours on Tuesday and are scheduled to continue for a second day on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. They are the first such meeting since February in the war that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly five years ago.
Speaking in Paris at a meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers, Rubio said: “It looks like the talks in Abu Dhabi were very productive.” He urged patience, however, adding: “There’s a lot of work to be done in that regard. It’s not like something that’s on the verge of being solved in the next 24 hours or anything like that.”
According to Reuters, Rubio said Washington hoped that the negotiations could eventually be widened to include other European representatives. Neither Rubio nor Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended the talks in person, the Associated Press reported.
Zelenskyy, speaking during a visit to Denmark, also welcomed the first day of discussions, calling the meeting “constructive and quite substantive”. He said negotiators had discussed humanitarian issues, including prisoner exchanges and the return of Ukrainian civilians held in captivity and children taken from the country, alongside security guarantees.
“The trilateral format was constructive and quite substantive,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that he had instructed Ukrainian negotiators to continue discussions with Russian and American representatives.
The Ukrainian president met Nordic leaders in Copenhagen to discuss military assistance, air defence systems and protecting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure from Russian attacks. Denmark announced an additional $720 million in military assistance, although details of the equipment and the delivery schedule were not disclosed.
According to reports, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner took part in the Abu Dhabi session. No peace agreement has been announced, and fighting has continued while the talks are under way. Officials on both sides have said the discussions will resume on Wednesday, with humanitarian questions expected to remain at the centre of the agenda.