Postwar Security Takes Center Stage as Russia, Ukraine, and U.S. Talks Stall

After two days of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the United States on ending the war in Ukraine concluded without a breakthrough.

American officials said they observed “some openings,” but there was no indication that a breakthrough was near in the nearly five-year conflict that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Davyd Arakhamia, a member of Ukraine’s negotiating team, said the latest round — the first since February — was “one of the hardest.” He said he believed the Russians had come with “very strict directives,” making it extremely difficult to soften the discussion. Still, he said he felt “good momentum” and urged that a second round of talks be organized as soon as possible.

Both Moscow and Kyiv confirmed that a large-scale prisoner-of-war exchange was being prepared and could take place soon.

After the talks, it was announced that U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — President Donald Trump’s son-in-law — would travel to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, and then to Dublin to speak with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.

The latest round of talks had been framed around the “security architecture” of Europe.

For Kyiv, this may include assurances that allies will come to its aid if Ukraine faces another attack, even though the country is not a NATO member.

For Moscow, it is likely to include limits on NATO’s influence in Eastern Europe — a central concern for the Kremlin since the alliance’s eastward expansion.

Earlier this week, Kushner said the United States hoped to “create a new framework” of security between Ukraine, Russia and Europe that could “secure lasting peace,” while Kremlin negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said the world needed a “new” and “fair” security system.

Ukraine and Europe have long been concerned about the current U.S. administration’s commitment to European security and its perceived softening toward the Kremlin.

Representatives of Britain, NATO and various EU countries were also in Abu Dhabi and met with U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators, but the Kremlin — with which the EU does not officially communicate — said its delegation had not had any contact with them.

Moscow has been dismissive of European involvement, although Europeans have long argued that they are central to any post-war dynamics on their continent.

Many, particularly in Eastern Europe, feel their security is linked to that of Ukraine. A German government spokesperson said on Wednesday that agreements cannot be implemented “if no consensus can be reached among NATO members.”

Kushner said the U.S. was keen to bring the Europeans on board and said that getting them “added to the format” would be on the agenda for his talks with Putin.

There is also disagreement over whether discussions on a future security framework should be preceded by a ceasefire — as Europeans and Kyiv would want — or whether fighting should stop only after an agreement is reached, as the Kremlin has insisted.

Any agreement on a post-war security framework, however, is contingent on the war ending, Kushner noted. But that cannot occur “until there’s an agreement on territory and on all other bilateral issues,” he added.

Since talks began last year, a core obstacle to any settlement has been Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk, which is mostly occupied by Russia. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine relinquish the parts of Donetsk it still holds, while Kyiv wants to freeze the contact line to maintain control over those areas.

This matter was the “hardest,” Kushner acknowledged, while Zelensky’s chief of staff and negotiator Kyrylo Budanov refused to be drawn on whether Russia was still demanding a Ukrainian withdrawal from the region.

“These deals are very hard and complex, and this one is very emotional, very complex,” Kushner said. “The reality is there is no trust right now between the sides and that is to be expected after a conflict like this.”

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