Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States were due to meet in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday in a renewed attempt to move forward with difficult discussions aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.
Repeated diplomatic efforts have so far failed to produce an agreement to stop the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, which erupted after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Hopes for progress were clouded by a large-scale Russian missile and drone assault ahead of the talks, which struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and left many without electricity and heating during extreme winter cold.
“Each such Russian strike confirms that attitudes in Moscow have not changed: they continue to bet on war and the destruction of Ukraine, and they do not take diplomacy seriously,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.
“The work of our negotiating team will be adjusted accordingly,” he said, without elaborating.
A central obstacle in the negotiations remains the future status of eastern Ukrainian territory.
Russia is insisting that Ukraine withdraw its forces from significant parts of the Donbas region, including strategically important and heavily defended cities rich in natural resources, as a condition for any agreement.
Moscow is also seeking international recognition of territories it captured during the invasion as part of Russia.
Ukraine has proposed freezing the conflict along the current front line and has ruled out any one-sided troop withdrawal.
The talks, scheduled to run on Wednesday and Thursday, were delayed from last weekend, with the Kremlin citing scheduling difficulties among the three parties.
Ukraine’s delegation will be led by National Security Council head Rustem Umerov, a negotiator praised by colleagues for achieving diplomatic “wonders.”
Russia will be represented by Igor Kostyukov, the head of its military intelligence agency, a former naval officer who has been sanctioned by Western countries for his role in the war.
During the previous round of negotiations in Abu Dhabi last month, the US delegation was headed by Steve Witkoff, a close envoy of President Donald Trump.
Russia, which currently controls about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, has warned it could seize the remainder of the Donetsk region if the talks collapse.
Ukraine has cautioned that surrendering territory would encourage further Russian aggression and has said it will not accept an agreement that fails to prevent another invasion.
Kiev still holds roughly one-fifth of the Donetsk region.
According to an AFP analysis, at the current rate of advance it could take Russian forces another 18 months to capture the rest of the region, though the remaining Ukrainian-held areas include heavily fortified urban centers.
Russia also claims the Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and occupies parts of at least three additional regions in eastern Ukraine.
Opinion polls indicate that most Ukrainians oppose any peace deal that would involve handing over territory to Moscow.
Many view the prospect of relinquishing land defended by Ukrainian soldiers for years as unacceptable.
On the battlefield, Russian forces have continued to make incremental gains at high human cost, betting they can exhaust Ukraine’s overstretched military.
Zelensky has urged Western allies to increase arms deliveries and intensify economic and political pressure on the Kremlin to force an end to the invasion.
In Kiev, hundreds of thousands have experienced power and heating outages this year after sustained Russian attacks severely damaged the capital’s energy system.
After the first round of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi last month, skepticism remained widespread among Ukrainians about the chances of reaching an agreement with Moscow.
“I think it’s all just a show for the public,” Petro, a Kiev resident, told AFP.
“We must prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
