US-Brokered Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks End: Here’s What Happened

The latest US-brokered peace talks between Ukraine and Russia ended on Saturday without a deal but both said they were open to further dialogue.

After the meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X: “Our delegation delivered a report; the meetings in the UAE have concluded. And this was the first format of this kind in quite some time: two days of trilateral meetings. A lot was discussed, and it is important that the conversations were constructive.”

The two-day talks were attended by military representatives from all three sides. “From our side, today’s participants included Rustem Umerov, Kyrylo Budanov, Andrii Hnatov, Davyd Arakhamiia, Sergiy Kyslytsya, and Vadym Skibitskyi. From the American side, the participants were Steve

Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Dan Driscoll, Alexus Grynkewich, and Josh Gruenbaum. The Russian side was represented by members of their military intelligence and armed forces.”

Zelenskyy said that the central focus of the discussions was the possible parameters for ending the war. He said: “The American side raised the issue of potential formats for formalizing the parameters for ending the war, as well as the security conditions required to achieve this.”

“As a result of the meetings held over these days, all sides agreed to report back in their capitals on each aspect of the negotiations and to coordinate further steps with their leaders. The military representatives identified a list of issues for a potential next meeting. Provided there is readiness to move forward – and Ukraine is ready – further meetings will take place, potentially as early as next week. I expect a personal briefing from the delegation upon its return,” he said.

The Ukraine President thanked the UAE for “their mediation and their readiness to host further meetings”.

The UAE also issued a statement saying the talks were conducted in a “constructive and positive atmosphere”.

“(They) included direct engagement between Russian and Ukrainian representatives on outstanding elements of the US-proposed peace framework, as well as confidence-building measures aimed at supporting progress toward a comprehensive agreement,” it added.

According to Reuters, Kyiv is under mounting Trump administration pressure to make concessions to reach a deal to end Europe’s deadliest and most destructive conflict since World War Two.

Ahead of the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday Russia had not dropped its insistence on Ukraine yielding all of its eastern area of Donbas. Ukraine has repeatedly rejected the demands.

During the two-day talks, Russia launched two massive strikes in which one person was killed and 800,000 people in Kyiv – where temperatures were around -10 degrees Celsius – were left without power.