Abu Dhabi (AFP) – A first day of US-led talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi ended Tuesday, with Washington calling for a “new” security framework, as Europe fears US President Donald Trump plans a deal with Moscow on the continent’s future. Negotiations to end more than four years of war — the first since February — lasted for several hours in the Gulf city and are set to continue Wednesday. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators sat facing each other, with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and business partner Steve Witkoff at the head of the table.
Kushner told delegates the US had “narrowed the gaps” between the warring sides — without providing details — and hoped to move towards a “solution that hopefully ends the war”. Moscow, which unleashed Europe’s worst war since World War II in 2022 and has occupied swathes of its smaller neighbour, pummelled Ukraine with more attacks overnight, cutting power to thousands as temperatures plummet. As the war approaches another winter, Ukraine and its European allies fear Washington will force Kyiv to accept a de facto defeat. Expectations for an imminent breakthrough are low. Trump has also floated a deal with Russia on rewriting Europe’s post-war security, alarming Europeans.
As the talks opened, Kushner said the US hoped to “create the right security relationships between Ukraine and Russia and Europe so that not only we end this war, we create a new framework and a new understanding” that will secure “decades, if not centuries, of peace”. Moscow has also suggested that this was its priority. Russia’s Vladimir Putin has for years logged a series of grievances towards the West. Ukraine has warned against a “Yalta 2.0” — referring to Western leaders dividing Europe with the Soviet Union after World War II — and the EU has said security arrangements can only be discussed after a ceasefire.
“Putin wants the USSR back,” Zelensky said in an interview published in Danish media Tuesday, as he landed in Copenhagen for a meeting with Nordic leaders. Putin has repeatedly turned down broader ceasefire offers and vowed his troops will press on in Ukraine.
Before launching its 2022 invasion, Moscow had issued an ultimatum to NATO to roll back troops from eastern Europe. In a sign that it wanted to revive the conversation, Moscow sent the diplomat who issued the demand, Sergei Ryabkov, to Abu Dhabi. The head of Moscow’s delegation, Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, said he hoped Moscow’s “more professional” team will help “move forwards” towards peace. A Russian delegation source earlier said that settling the Ukraine war was just “merely one item on the agenda” and that Moscow’s main objective was reviewing security “for the entire continent”.
Kyiv’s chief negotiator Rustem Umerov met the US envoys and European, EU and NATO officials ahead of the negotiations. NATO’s general in Europe, Alexus Grynkewich, is also taking part in the talks. In a joint statement, the Europeans, Ukraine, US and NATO reaffirmed their “shared commitment to a strong post-war European security architecture”.
Umerov said Kyiv’s priorities remained securing a ceasefire and security guarantees. “Our people are waiting to end this war,” he said. As talks continued, Ukrainian and French foreign ministers in Paris commended US efforts to push for “partial truces” which could serve as a “first step toward a complete and unconditional ceasefire”. Last month, a local truce in Ukraine’s Kherson region brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump became the longest pause in fighting during the war. Kyiv is also pushing post-war support for its army. A senior Ukrainian source told AFP Ukraine wanted at least 10 years of financial support to sustain a 800,000-strong army able to defend any future Russian attack.
There is huge distrust in Ukraine towards Trump’s aims. The US leader hinted ahead of the talks that Kyiv might have to give up land, saying: “They’re going to end up with a little bit different shape.” Russia’s troops have ground westwards but have not been able to seize the whole of the coveted Donetsk region, and Moscow demands Kyiv surrender the parts of the embattled area it controls. “Ceding Ukrainian land for peace is just abstract words,” Zelensky told Denmark’s DR Nyheder. “Putin was talking about Donbas, but then he decided to occupy Kyiv,” he said, referring to Russian forces marching onto Ukraine’s capital in 2022.
In Denmark, Zelensky is due to meet the leaders of Nordic countries. Zelensky said he spoke to Finland’s president Alexander Stubb and said Kyiv’s negotiators were doing their “best” to ensure talks will “deliver results.” Stubb and Norway’s Jonas Gahr Store held a rare phone call with Putin last month, which they called “frank and substantive”.
© 2024 AFP
