The delegations of Ukraine and Russia opened on Wednesday the second session of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, with the aim of continuing to move forward toward a possible peace agreement under the mediation of the United States, which is expected to be the first formal round of contacts since February.
The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence services, Rustem Umerov, has outlined the agenda for this new day. "We begin the second day of negotiations. First, we will hold a trilateral meeting with the United States and Russia. Then, we will have a meeting with our European partners," he explained, specifying that, unlike the first meeting, the meeting with representatives of the European Union and NATO in Abu Dhabi will take place after the meeting with the Russian delegation.
"We continue working," the Ukrainian representative in the process said, after a first day that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, described as a "very significant" result. As he reported, during those talks "parameters for humanitarian measures" were discussed with a view to a possible ceasefire that would serve as a basis for a future peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow.
In parallel with these negotiations, the Ukrainian Government maintains its firm stance toward Moscow and reiterates that Russia cannot decide the future of the country. Kyiv flatly rejects any territorial concession in the Donbas region, partially occupied by Russian forces since the large-scale invasion launched in 2022.
"If we allow Russia to decide Ukraine's fate, we will be opening the way for it to make decisions about the rest of Europe. We need to be stronger than the Russians. And only through unity can we achieve it," Zelensky emphasized in statements made in Denmark, where he was visiting on Tuesday at the same time as the talks were taking place in Abu Dhabi.