Russian, Ukrainian and American negotiators have begun a second day of peace talks in Abu Dhabi, resuming meetings that Kyiv and Washington described as constructive — though neither side has reported any sign of a breakthrough.
Key Points
- Abu Dhabi peace talks second day — negotiators from the US, Russia and Ukraine opened the final scheduled day of talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, 11 November.
- The first day ran for four hours on Tuesday, with US envoy Jared Kushner saying Washington had “narrowed the gaps” between the two sides.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed what he called a shift in approach by the American mediators.
- Wednesday begins with trilateral talks, followed by a separate meeting between Ukraine’s delegation and European partners.
“We are starting the second day of the talks,” Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s top negotiator and head of its Foreign Intelligence Service, said on Telegram. “First, there will be a trilateral format with the United States and Russia. After that, we will have a separate meeting with the European partners.” US envoys are expected to join that European session as well, according to a source in the Ukrainian delegation.
The talks are the first trilateral meeting of the warring sides since February, and only the fourth round overall. The American delegation is led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law; Russia’s team is headed by Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin aide, and Ukraine’s by Umerov. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the first day as “very productive”, without giving details.
What was discussed on day one
According to Zelensky, who is not attending the talks, the first day’s “substantive” discussions covered humanitarian and security issues. Ukrainian officials say the humanitarian agenda includes possible prisoner exchanges and the return of Ukrainian civilians held in captivity, as well as children taken from the country. Kushner told delegates on Tuesday that the United States hoped to move towards a “solution” to the conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly five years ago.
Zelensky, speaking in Copenhagen on Tuesday, said his team had reported that humanitarian issues and security guarantees were among the topics discussed, and that a potential summit of Russian, Ukrainian and US leaders could be discussed on Tuesday. He has hailed a change in approach by the US mediators, though he has not yet elaborated on what that change is.
The gap that remains
The distance between the two sides is still wide. Russia wants territory and guarantees that NATO will not threaten it, while Ukraine demands security guarantees strong enough to prevent future invasions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the negotiations would focus on the key elements of a regional security framework, while Moscow has resisted European involvement in the main talks, insisting they stay strictly trilateral.
The backdrop is grim. On Monday, hours before the talks opened, Russia battered Ukraine’s power grid, leaving more than 600,000 people without electricity as Kyiv braces for winter. The talks end on Wednesday with no further sessions scheduled, and observers do not expect a breakthrough from this round — but after more than 1,700 days of full-scale war, even a meeting that ends with an agreement to keep talking is a change from the silence of the past nine months.
For background on the opening of the talks, see our report on the US, Russia and Ukraine opening the Abu Dhabi peace talks, and on Russia pounding Ukraine’s power grid hours before the talks. More in our World News section.
Sources: Reuters via KWSN, “US, Russia and Ukraine start second day of Abu Dhabi peace talks” (https://kwsn.com/2026/11/11/us-russia-and-ukraine-start-second-day-of-abu-dhabi-peace-talks/); The Hindu, “Russia, Ukraine hold second day of U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi” (https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/russia-ukraine-hold-second-day-of-us-brokered-talks-in-abu-dhabi/article71689267.ece).