A Ukrainian serviceman stands next to a truck equipped with a machine gun during an air raid alert in Kyiv amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the talks were “constructive” and focused on possible parameters for ending the conflict, adding that discussions could resume next week. A UAE government spokesperson also described the meetings, which involved senior military officials from both sides, as taking place in a “constructive and positive atmosphere”.
The Emirati spokesperson said the talks addressed outstanding elements of a US-proposed peace framework, as well as confidence-building measures between the two sides.
However, on the eve of the second day of talks, Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles across Ukraine, cutting electricity to millions in sub-zero temperatures. Kyiv accused Moscow of undermining negotiations with what it called another “night of Russian terror”.
Russia, meanwhile, said Ukrainian strikes were also continuing. Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed governor of the occupied Kherson region, said a Ukrainian drone attack killed three people in an ambulance van heading to a sick man.
While diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II have gained momentum, Moscow and Kyiv remain deadlocked over territory. Both sides say the fate of land in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region is the main unresolved issue.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and devastated large parts of Ukraine.
Donbas territory dispute
US President Donald Trump met Zelensky at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday and US envoy Steve Witkoff later held talks with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
Hours after Putin met Witkoff -- and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner -- in Moscow, the Kremlin said its demand that Kyiv withdraw from the eastern Donbas region still stood, calling it "a very important condition".
Kyiv rejects it. "The Donbas is a key issue," Zelensky told reporters on Friday, ahead of the talks in the UAE.
Zelensky said he and Trump had agreed on post-war security guarantees in Davos.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are last known to have met face-to-face in Istanbul last summer, in talks that ended only in deals to exchange captured soldiers.
The Abu Dhabi meeting was the first time they have faced each other to talk about the Trump administration's plan.
An initial US draft drew heavy criticism in Kyiv and western Europe for hewing too closely to Moscow's demands, while Russia rejected later versions for proposing European peacekeepers in Ukraine.
Putin has repeatedly said Moscow intends to get full control of eastern Ukraine by force if talks fail.
Trump has in the past pressured Ukraine to agree to terms that Kyiv sees as capitulation.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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