Ukrainian, Russian and US negotiators sat down together in Abu Dhabi on January 23, 2026, for the first three-way talks since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, with the question of territory in eastern Ukraine at the center of the discussions. The United Arab Emirates said the talks would last two days. There was no sign of a compromise on the key issue.
Who is at the table
Ukraine’s delegation is led by Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, and includes Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Presidential Office, Serhiy Kyslytsya and David Arakhamia. Russia sent a team of military intelligence and army officials led by Igor Kostyukov, head of the GRU military intelligence agency. The US side includes special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll and General Alexus Grynkewich. A separate US-Russia economic working group was planned, led by Witkoff and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
“The Ukrainian team is acting in a coordinated manner within the framework of the tasks set by President Zelenskyy,” Umerov said after the first day, describing the goal as a “decent and lasting peace.” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was “too early to draw conclusions.”
Down to “one issue”
The talks are built around a revised 20-point peace plan drafted by Ukraine and the United States, covering territory, security guarantees and postwar reconstruction. Witkoff said the sides had “got it down to one issue,” which Zelenskyy said was territory.
Russia is demanding the rest of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, about a quarter of which remains under heavily fortified Ukrainian control. Vladimir Putin told Witkoff and Kushner in Moscow the day before that a settlement requires resolving “the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage,” a reference to his 2025 summit with Donald Trump in Alaska. Ukraine has instead proposed that both armies pull back from the current front line to create a demilitarized zone.
A harsh winter backdrop
The talks come as both armies are exhausted after nearly four years of war and Kyiv faces one of its worst energy crises, with electricity available for only an hour or two a day in some areas and nearly 2,000 apartment buildings left without heating in freezing temperatures. Zelenskyy, who met Trump in Davos on January 22, said they discussed additional Patriot missiles to protect Ukraine’s power system.
Sources
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