US, Russia and Ukraine start talks in Abu Dhabi

Read on here to get the latest on developments over the two days of talks on Tuesday, November 10 and Wednesday November 11, 2026:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Denmark, where he is to hold meetings with Nordic leaders on military support, air defense and energy infrastructure security amid Russia's invasion of his country, Danish authorities said.

"I am proud to welcome President Zelenskyy and the Nordic leaders to Denmark. The Ukrainians' fight for a free Ukraine and a free Europe continues," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement.

"Almost five years after the full-scale invasion, the rain of bombs targeting civilians, relief centers, and water and heating plants continues. That is why we must stand firm," Frederiksen said.

Zelenskyy's trip comes as the US-mediated talks on the conflict in Ukraine between Kyiv and Moscow kick off in Abu Dhabi.

The talks between Ukraine, Russia ⁠and ⁠the US have begun in Abu Dhabi, the Russian news ​agency ⁠RIA ​Novosti ​reported ​on Tuesday, ‌citing ​a source.

The talks, the first such meeting since February, are scheduled to run for two days as the sides seek a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor launched in February 2022.

Ukrainian negotiators are meeting with US envoys and European and NATO representatives in Abu Dhabi ahead of the start of talks with Russia, according to Kyiv's chief negotiator.

"The first meeting will be held with representatives of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, NATO and the European Commission, joined by US Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner," Rustem Umerov said on social media.

"We will align our positions and coordinate our steps ahead of the next stage of negotiations."

EU negotiators are not expected to participate in the main trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US.

The US involvement in the talks comes as many of Ukraine's allies fear that President Donald Trump seems to be increasingly on the side of Moscow, despite the fact that Russia is the clear aggressor in the conflict.

Trump's past angry treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the denigratory remarks he has made about him seem to suggest that he holds Kyiv to be at least equally responsible for the war.

Both Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who are mediating the Abu Dhabi meetings, have also been accused by critics of being soft on Russia.

In addition, US media have reported that Washington is involved in large back-door business deals with Moscow.

Kushner said ahead of the talks that he and Witkoff were working on a "negotiated solution that can deliver lasting peace and create the conditions for a sovereign, secure, and prosperous Ukraine within a more stable European security environment."

His statement on X, however, contained no hint that Russia initiated the conflict with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022.

The EU, meanwhile, fears that Kushner's remarks saying any peace settlement would require direct Russia-Europe talks "on the broader security arrangements that affect them" could mean that the US and Moscow intend to jointly revamp Europe's security structures.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday that "[f]or Europe, it is clear: We do not need to establish a new security architecture for Europe."

Zelenskyy has also warned of what he called a "Yalta 2.0," referring to Western leaders dividing Europe together with the Russia-led Soviet Union in 1945.

The talks starting Tuesday in Abu Dhabi are the latest in a long line of meetings that have aimed to resolve the conflict in Ukraine — and failed.

In this article, DW looks at what is at stake and what can be hoped for, if anything: New trilateral talks on Ukraine war in Abu Dhabi: What to expect?

Moscow and Kyiv have widely divergent demands regarding the conflict in Ukraine, which began when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to pull its forces out of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which are the regions that Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022 without seizing all the territory they contain.

He also says Ukraine must give up its aspirations to join NATO, limit the size of its military capability and drop restrictions on the Russian language and the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church.

He has warned that he will use force to push through these demands if Kyiv refuses to accept them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out yielding any territory that Russia has failed to take with military means.

He also refuses to accept any limits on the size of Ukraine's armed forces or restrictions on the alliances it strikes with Western partners.

The talks in Abu Dhabi are being mediated by the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff, a real estate investor who has served as a US special envoy on several peace missions.

Ukraine's delegation will be headed by chief negotiator Rustem Umerov, who heads the country's Foreign Intelligence Service.

Other reported members of the team will be the chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kyrylo Budanov, his deputy Sergiy Kyslytsya, and Davyd Arakhamia, the parliamentary faction leader of Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.

Russia's delegation will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin who has headed negotiations for Moscow since 2022.

Other members include deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov and Yuri Zhigarlovsky, who is deputy chief of the General Staff’s operational department.

According to Ukraine's Umerov, German, British, French and Italian representatives, as well as NATO and EU officials, will hold separate talks with members of Kyiv's team.

The US's Kushner also said that he and Witkoff would meet separately with envoys from Ukraine, the EU, NATO, Germany, France, the UK and Italy to "continue the close consultation and coordination we have undertaken on European security and Ukraine’s postwar future over the past several weeks."

The trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US starting on Tuesday represent a new attempt to end the more than 56-month-long conflict triggered by Moscow's 2022 invasion.

Previous talks have failed to bring any peace resolution, with Moscow making territorial demands that Kyiv has ruled out accepting.

The EU, which has been fighting for a place at the negotiating table, is sending representatives who, however, are not expected to take part in the main talks.

This comes as US President Donald Trump last week spoke of a "very big agreement" on the war involving "all of Europe," raising fears that the US wants to join with Russia in revamping European security architecture.

Read on for more on the negotiations over what is the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II.