US-backed trilateral talks involving Ukraine and Russia will be held in Abu Dhabi next week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as Kyiv faces uncertainty over an energy ceasefire and continued Russian air strikes amid stalled peace negotiations.
US-supported talks bringing together Ukraine and Russia are set to resume next week in Abu Dhabi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday as Kyiv confronts renewed uncertainty over an energy ceasefire with Moscow while temperatures continue to plunge.
Ukraine is facing mounting pressure from Washington to pursue a negotiated end to the nearly four-year-old war, even as Russia’s sustained air assault has severely damaged the country’s power infrastructure during one of the harshest winters in recent years.
The United States has said it is “very close” to reaching an agreement to halt the fighting — the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II — though negotiations remain stalled over the core dispute of territorial control in any post-war settlement.
Despite the diplomatic push, Russian forces have continued to strike Ukrainian targets throughout the negotiation process.
An initial round of talks held in late January failed to produce a breakthrough, particularly on the sensitive issue of territory, with Moscow insisting that Ukraine relinquish additional areas in the eastern regions — a demand Kyiv continues to reject.
Zelenskyy said the new talks would take place on February 4 and 5, and that Ukraine – struggling to stop grinding Russian advances on the battlefield – was ready for a “substantive discussion”. “Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested in ensuring that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Talks deadlocked
The US has sought to craft a peace settlement through talks with both sides.
But the most crucial issue of territory remains unresolved, despite Russia and Ukraine agreeing on most other points, Kyiv says.
The first round of trilateral talks on the US plan, held in Abu Dhabi last Friday and Saturday, failed to yield a breakthrough.
Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of its neighbour, is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal.
It has threatened to take it by force if talks fail.
But Ukraine has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow and that it will not sign a deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.
Many Ukrainians find the idea of surrendering territory that their soldiers have defended for years unconscionable.
Maternity hospital hit
Ukraine, which Russia has bombed throughout the peace process, says its neighbour is not serious about ending the war.
A Russian drone strike on a bus carrying mine workers in Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region killed at least 12 people on Sunday, hours after a drone attack on a city in the same region killed a man and a woman, according to officials.
An earlier Russian drone strike on a maternity hospital in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia injured seven people, including two women undergoing a medical examination, the region’s governor and rescuers said.
The attacks came the same day the Kremlin said a week-long reduction in strikes announced by US President Donald Trump would end – though Ukraine says Russia kept up its attacks regardless.
Trump said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to stop strikes on Kyiv and “various towns” during cold weather, an agreement that the Kremlin said would last until Sunday.
The terms of Trump’s agreement with Putin were not clear, and the Kremlin did not link the supposed truce to the weather.
Ukraine’s defence minister on Sunday thanked Elon Musk after the US tycoon said efforts to stop Russia from using Starlink satellites for drone attacks seemed to have worked.
“The first steps are already delivering real results… Thank you for standing with us. You are a true champion of freedom and a true friend of the Ukrainian people,” Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a “special military operation” to prevent the expansion of NATO – a war aim that Kyiv has called a pretext for an illegal land grab.
The conflict has resulted in a tidal wave of destruction that has left entire cities in ruins and killed tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians.
With inputs from agencies
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