Russia and Ukraine Hold First Direct Talks Since February in Abu Dhabi

On Tuesday 10 November 2026, the war in Ukraine acquired something it has not had for nine months: a negotiating table with both sides sitting at it. Delegations from Russia and Ukraine, with the United States mediating, met in Abu Dhabi for nearly four hours of talks — the first direct meeting between the two sides since February. The session produced no agreement and no ceasefire, and the hardest questions, above all territory, were left untouched. But the two sides described the day in positive terms, and they agreed to meet again on Wednesday. After nine months without direct talks, that is a step — a small one, but a real one.

This article sets out who was in the room, what was discussed, what the leaders said, and what to watch for on the second day.

Who was at the table

The talks were held at adviser level, not at leader level, and neither President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine nor President Vladimir Putin of Russia attended. The American side was led by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff and by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, who is part of the American delegation. The Ukrainian delegation was led by Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service. The Russian delegation was led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to President Putin, and included Deputy Foreign Ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, the head of military intelligence Igor Kostyukov, and General Yury Zhigarlovsky.

The meeting was the first three-way session involving Russian, Ukrainian and American representatives since February 2026, when an earlier round of trilateral talks in Geneva ended without a breakthrough. The US side announced the new round on Monday. Witkoff said the discussions would focus on "post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps toward peace". The Kremlin confirmed that a Russian delegation would attend, and President Putin agreed to the new round after meeting Witkoff in St Petersburg on 21 October.

Russia insisted that the talks remain confidential. The negotiators themselves made no official comments after the session. What is known about the day comes from the leaders who were briefed on it — Zelenskyy, and the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Paris for a meeting of the Group of Seven — and from officials speaking to the press.

What was discussed

According to Zelenskyy, the talks were largely about humanitarian issues: prisoner exchanges, the return of Ukrainian civilians held in Russian prisons, and the return of Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia. Security guarantees were also discussed in detail, he said, along with steps towards de-escalation. Sources told Ukrainian media that the talks also covered postwar plans to rebuild Ukraine and a new security architecture, and that the two sides could announce a large-scale prisoner exchange.

What was not discussed is also important. According to The New York Times, a ceasefire was not on the agenda for the Abu Dhabi talks. The negotiators were instead to focus on security guarantees designed to prevent the war from resuming if a truce is reached — the guarantees Ukraine would receive after a ceasefire, and how its postwar reconstruction would be financed. Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is prepared to discuss territorial issues only at leader level, and Russia is demanding territorial concessions — above all, that Kyiv surrender the remaining Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donetsk — while Ukraine wants to preserve its positions by freezing the current front line. Neither side moved on territory on Tuesday, and no agreement on any of these questions was announced.

Before the talks, Zelenskyy had set out what Kyiv would propose: a ceasefire in the energy sector and at sea, the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilians held in Russian prisons, and the return of Ukrainian children taken abroad. The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said the main topic would be security issues concerning Russia, Ukraine and the region as a whole.

What the leaders said

Zelenskyy, speaking to students at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark after being briefed by his negotiators, called the first day "constructive and quite substantive". He added, with characteristic bluntness: "It's hard to deal with the Russians. To put it mildly, they are not our best friends." He said he had given his team clear instructions for further dialogue, "both in the trilateral format tomorrow and more broadly, over the coming days, with envoys of the US President and representatives of Europe". Earlier, in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, he said he hoped the talks would open the way to a three-way meeting of leaders that includes President Putin. "We are counting on the fact that work in this format and our other diplomatic steps will open the way to a trilateral format at the level of leaders," he told reporters.

Rubio, speaking in Paris after the first day, described the talks as "very productive", but urged patience and said there was still a lot of work to be done before an agreement could be reached. President Trump has said a "big deal" would be struck on Ukraine; Zelenskyy acknowledged that a "big deal" could turn out to be "complicated and dangerous". Merz said it was "important that Russia finally and seriously engages in negotiations about a ceasefire and a subsequent peace agreement".

Why Abu Dhabi, why now

The talks come as US negotiators seek a breakthrough before winter, in a war now in its fifth year since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. The previous trilateral round, in Geneva in February, ended without a breakthrough, and there has been no direct meeting since. The American push has been building for weeks: diplomats from Ukraine, the United States and Europe met in Brussels on 4 November, and NATO talks followed, before Witkoff announced the Abu Dhabi dates on Monday.

The timing is also shaped by the battlefield. Zelenskyy said defensive operations and attacks against Russian targets were strengthening Kyiv's position before the meeting, and cited a briefing from his senior military commander about substantial recent Russian losses. At the same time, the European Union has agreed to activate an emergency mechanism to speed up funding for repairs to Ukraine's power infrastructure, after sustained Russian attacks on the energy network.

The war went on while they talked

The talks began on a grim note. On Monday, hours before Witkoff announced the new round, Russian forces bombed an aid centre at a school in the village of Komyshuvakha, in the Zaporizhzhia region, where residents gathered each week to collect humanitarian packages. Ukrainian officials said at least 31 people were killed. Zelenskyy said the attack was "further proof that Russia does not want any kind of de-escalation, any real justice", and said Ukrainian intelligence had warned that Russia was preparing a new large-scale attack on the country's energy and logistics networks.

That is the context in which the talks must be read. The delegations discussed humanitarian steps while the war continued around them, and no ceasefire was agreed. The first day established a process and identified the issues under discussion; it did not stop the fighting.

What Europe wants

European governments have insisted on being involved in the negotiations, but they were unlikely to be at the table in Abu Dhabi itself. France, Germany and the European Commission were expected to send representatives to the city, and Zelenskyy said his team would also talk with European representatives in the coming days. The Brussels meeting on 4 November, and the NATO talks that followed, were part of the same diplomatic sequence: Europe wants a say in any security guarantees for Ukraine, because those guarantees would shape the security of the whole continent.

That question — who guarantees Ukraine's security after a ceasefire, and how — is the central issue of the Abu Dhabi talks, and it is also the issue on which Europe has the most at stake. It is not a question the three delegations in Abu Dhabi can settle alone.

What happens next

The delegations return to the table on Wednesday morning, 11 November, for a second day. Three things are worth watching. First, whether a large-scale prisoner exchange is announced — it is the most concrete outcome the first day's discussions pointed towards. Second, whether the talks produce any statement on security guarantees or on a leaders' meeting, which is what Zelenskyy is aiming for. Third, whether the process continues after Wednesday, or stalls again as the Geneva round did in February.

For now, the honest summary is the one the reporting supports: the first direct talks in nine months took place, lasted nearly four hours, were described as constructive by both sides, and produced no agreement. The second day will show whether that is the start of a negotiation, or only a meeting.

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