US-Mediates Talks on Russia-Ukraine War11/10 06:21

   Three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States opened Tuesday 
in the United Arab Emirates, as Washington made another push to end the war 
that followed Moscow's all-out invasion of its neighbor nearly five years ago.

   ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Three-way talks between Russia, 
Ukraine and the United States opened Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates, as 
Washington made another push to end the war that followed Moscow's all-out 
invasion of its neighbor nearly five years ago.

   The two-day session in the UAE's capital, Abu Dhabi, is the first such 
meeting since February. It will focus on establishing future security 
guarantees for the warring countries, the White House said before the 
discussions. Russia sees NATO as a threat, and Ukraine wants to prevent future 
Russian invasions.

   U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who along with U.S. 
envoy Steve Witkoff is trying to broker a settlement, said that he believed 
that there were "some good ideas how to bridge" the differences between the two 
sides.

   But hopes of progress in ending Europe's biggest conflict since World War II 
are tempered by the absence of any significant breakthroughs in three previous 
rounds of talks early this year. The war has already killed hundreds of 
thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians, analysts and humanitarian 
organizations say.

   There are no signs the fighting is abating, and the talks took place against 
a backdrop of new long-range strikes between Russia and Ukraine. The two armies 
are largely deadlocked on the front line.

   Russia launched 162 drones of various types and a ballistic missile at 
Ukraine overnight, Ukraine's air force said.

   Meanwhile, Russia's Ministry of Defense said that its forces shot down 155 
Ukrainian drones overnight above eight Russian regions, as well as the Crimean 
Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

   "I don't have overly high expectations" for the talks, German Chancellor 
Friedrich Merz said in an interview with ZDF television on Monday night.

   Kushner says the U.S. aims to build on past experience 

   Kushner said in opening remarks at the talks that the goal is to "create a 
new framework and a new understanding building upon the different institutions 
and understandings of the past."

   "We take what's worked, we try to identify what's failed, why we're in this 
position and hopefully create a new framework that leads us for decades, if not 
centuries, of peace," Kushner said.

   NATO commander U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who was also present, pointed to 
"some great progress in the past in a military-to-military dialogue in a 
trilateral format."

   He said that the U.S. delegation looked forward "to working with both sides 
as we seek to advance the progress we've made in the past and continue this 
pursuit to set the foundations for a lasting peace."

   Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service who is 
leading Kyiv's delegation, thanked the U.S. for its efforts to end Russia's 
invasion.

   "Our people are waiting to end this war. And we hope that we will achieve 
the lasting peace for Ukraine," he said.

   Ukrainians meet first with European and NATO officials 

   The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, noted at the start of 
the talks that the Russian delegation "has become bigger and more professional."

   He expressed hope that the meeting "will allow us to advance on the path 
towards peace in the interests of the people of Russia and the people of 
Ukraine."

   Umerov said that the day began with a meeting between the Ukrainian team, 
the U.S. envoys and representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, 
Italy, NATO and the European Commission.

   Russia and Ukraine hold to their divergent demands 

   The Russian and Ukrainian governments remain far apart on key elements of 
any prospective deal.

   Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to pull its troops back from 
four regions of Ukraine that Moscow annexed in September 2022 but has never 
fully captured. He also demands that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO, 
accept strict limits on its military and drop restrictions on the Russian 
language and the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

   Putin wants a comprehensive peace deal on those conditions and won't agree 
to a general halt in hostilities, arguing that it would only allow Ukrainian 
troops to rest and replenish their weapons stockpiles.

   Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was visiting Denmark on 
Tuesday, rejects Putin's demands to voluntarily cede territory. Zelenskyy also 
rejects any limits on Ukraine's military or its arrangements with Western 
partners, which Kyiv sees as essential security guarantees to stop Moscow from 
invading again.

   Ukraine argues that an immediate ceasefire is the necessary first step 
toward negotiating a wider settlement and says a direct meeting between Putin 
and Zelenskyy is the only way territorial issues can be settled. Putin has 
spurned those suggestions.

   Russia and Ukraine send experienced negotiators 

   The Russian and Ukrainian delegations include senior officials who have 
attended previous rounds of talks.

   Russia's chief negotiator is Medinsky, a Putin aide who has led Moscow's 
team since the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022. 
The Russian delegation also includes deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov 
and Mikhail Galuzin, military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov and deputy 
chief of the General Staff's operational department, Yuri Zhigarlovsky.

   Apart from Umerov, the Ukrainian delegation also reportedly includes 
Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, his deputy, Sergiy Kyslytsya, and 
Davyd Arakhamia, the parliamentary faction leader of Zelenskyy's Servant of the 
People party.

   U.S. says broader European security deal in the works 

   Last week, Trump declared that some kind of grand deal about European 
security was in the works, describing it as "a big agreement" that is "going to 
involve more than Ukraine."

   Kushner said Monday on X that a "comprehensive and lasting settlement will 
also require direct engagement between Russia and our European partners on the 
broader security arrangements that affect them."

   Moscow has praised the broad approach.

   "We can only welcome the (U.S.) negotiators on President Donald Trump's 
request proposing to put the issue of collective security on top of the agenda 
of the talks on a Ukrainian settlement," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov 
said.

   Some in the European Union see Washington's proposals as too accommodating 
to Moscow.

   Russia has objected to the Europeans' involvement in the three-way talks, 
but said that EU representatives could join at a later stage.