Russia, Ukraine and US Open Abu Dhabi Talks on Ending War
Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators began two days of talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10, 2026, the first such meeting since February. Security guarantees top the agenda as overnight drone and missile strikes continued and the front line stays largely deadlocked.
Russia, Ukraine and the United States opened two days of US-mediated talks on ending the Russia-Ukraine war in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday, November 10, 2026. It is the first such meeting since February, as Washington renews its push to end a conflict that began with Moscow's all-out invasion nearly five years ago.
The White House said the session will focus on security guarantees. Russia sees NATO as a threat, and Ukraine wants to prevent future Russian invasions.
Hopes are tempered. Three earlier rounds of talks this year produced no significant breakthroughs, and analysts and humanitarian organizations say the war has killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians.
Strikes continue overnight
The fighting shows no sign of easing. Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 162 drones of various types and a ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight.
Russia's Ministry of Defense said its forces shot down 155 Ukrainian drones above eight Russian regions and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The two armies are largely deadlocked on the front line.
Who is in the room
Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, leads Kyiv's delegation. He said the day began with a meeting between the Ukrainian team, the US envoys and representatives of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, NATO and the European Commission.
Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, said on X that he and fellow envoy Steve 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."
Vladimir Medinsky, who heads the Russian delegation, said at the start that the team "has become bigger and more professional." He voiced hope that the meeting "will allow us to advance on the path towards peace in the interests of the people of Russia and the people of Ukraine."
Positions remain far apart
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to pull its troops out of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Moscow annexed those four regions in September 2022 but never fully captured them.
He also demands that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO, accept strict limits on its military and drop restrictions on the Russian language and the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
Putin wants a comprehensive peace deal on those terms and rejects a general halt in hostilities, arguing it would let Ukrainian troops rest and rebuild weapons stockpiles. He has warned that Russia will achieve its goals by force if Kyiv refuses.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was visiting Denmark on Tuesday, rejects Putin's demand to voluntarily cede territory that Russia has not been able to take on the battlefield.
