Ukrainian president says Abu Dhabi talks expected to lead to a fresh exchange, as US-led talks enter day two. What we know on day 1,443
Ukraine-Russia talks: how close is a peace deal and what does each side want?
Kyiv’s lead negotiator called the start of two days of US-led peace talks in Abu Dhabi “productive” on Wednesday. “The work was substantive and productive, focused on concrete steps and practical solutions,” Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, wrote on X. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking in his nightly video address, said it was critical for the talks to lead to real peace and not offer Russia a new opportunity to continue the war. Ukraine’s partners, he said, had to exert more pressure on Moscow.
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine expected the talks to lead to a new prisoner exchange soon. The president, interviewed by French television channel France 2, said the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed on the battlefield as a result of the war with Russia was estimated at 55,000. He had previously cited a figure of more than 46,000 Ukrainian servicemen killed in an interview with US television network NBC in February 2025.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Wednesday that “the doors for a peaceful settlement are open,” but Russian forces would continue fighting until Kyiv made “decisions” that could bring the war to an end, underlining Moscow’s hardline stance even as negotiations resumed. Moscow has said it would not tolerate European troops on Ukrainian soil, a condition Kyiv sees as essential for credible security guarantees.
