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Envoys from Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for a new round of U.S.-brokered talks aimed at ending the war that has lasted nearly four years, as Russian attacks continued to hit Ukrainian cities. The meeting opened the first day of a two-day session, with the delegations joined by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, according to Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council chief, who attended.
Umerov said in a post on social media that the discussions were “substantive and productive,” adding that they were “focusing on concrete steps and practical solutions” as the first day wrapped up. The AP report said the talks were held in parallel with new strikes in Ukraine, including an attack in which Russian forces used cluster munitions at a busy market in eastern Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that while a breakthrough in the talks may not come quickly, the Trump administration has made progress on negotiations over the past year. Rubio told reporters Wednesday, “That’s the good news,” before adding, “The bad news is that the items that remain are the most difficult ones. And meanwhile the war continues.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to offer details on the talks and said Moscow was not planning to comment on the results. Peskov said that “the doors for a peaceful settlement are open,” while saying Moscow will proceed with its military campaign until Kyiv meets its demands, according to the AP report.
The current round of talks follows prior Abu Dhabi discussions that produced “some progress but no breakthrough on key issues,” officials said last month, as part of a broader U.S. effort to end the fighting. The negotiations are also taking place as the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States is set to expire on Thursday, with the AP report describing renewed diplomatic pressure to extend or renegotiate the treaty to prevent a new nuclear arms race.
As the talks unfolded, Ukrainians voiced outrage over Russian strikes on energy infrastructure that they say occur each winter. The AP report said a major Russian bombardment Monday into Tuesday included hundreds of drones and a record 32 ballistic missiles, leaving at least 10 people wounded, and it described disputes over how long Russia would temporarily halt strikes on Ukraine’s power grid.
The AP report said Ukraine’s leadership challenged the scope of any pause. It said Trump told reporters Tuesday that Vladimir Putin agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine’s power grid for a week through Feb. 1 and kept his word, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that “barely four days have passed of the week Russia was asked to hold off” before new attacks hit. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said Trump was “unfortunately unsurprised” by Moscow’s resumption of attacks.
Ukraine said repair crews were working to restore power in Kyiv after the latest attacks. The Ukrainian Energy Ministry said more than 200 repair crews were at work in the capital and that staff were exhausted and would be rotated, while Zelenskyy said more than 1,100 apartment buildings in Kyiv were still without heating.
The AP report also said Russia is targeting energy facilities because its armed forces believe the sites are tied to Kyiv’s military effort, citing Peskov. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said the developments fit Moscow’s negotiating strategy, writing late Tuesday that the Kremlin would likely portray the short-term energy strikes moratorium as a concession to gain leverage in upcoming peace talks even though, the institute said, Moscow used those days to stockpile missiles for a larger strike package.
On Wednesday, the AP report said Russia used cluster munitions in an attack on a market in the town of Druzhkivka in eastern Ukraine, killing seven people and wounding 15 others. Donetsk regional military administration chief Vadym Filashkin said Russian talk of a ceasefire was “worthless,” and the AP report said the attack darkened prospects for progress in the UAE.
The AP report added that Russia launched 105 drones overnight and that Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 88, with strikes by 17 drones recorded at 14 locations and debris falling at five sites, according to the Ukrainian air force. It also reported that in the Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian strike on a residential area killed a 68-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man, as identified by Oleksandr Hancha, the region’s military administration head, and that Odesa faced a large-scale attack that damaged about 20 residential buildings and led to four people being rescued from rubble, according to Oleh Kiper.