Russia, Ukraine Resume Peace Talks After Nine Months; Zelenskyy: "Constructive Discussions"

The first day of talks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, which resumed after nine months with U.S. mediation, has concluded. The two sides discussed the release of prisoners and ways to guarantee Ukraine's security, among other issues, and Ukraine and the United States gave a positive assessment of the outcome.

AP-Yonhap News

According to foreign media outlets, including Anadolu Agency, on November 10 local time, trilateral talks involving the United States, Russia and Ukraine were held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The talks ended after about four hours and 30 minutes. They are scheduled to continue on November 11.

After the talks ended, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the discussions had been "constructive and quite substantive."

He said the talks covered humanitarian measures, including the release of prisoners, as well as ways to guarantee Ukraine's long-term security. Measures to ease tensions were also on the agenda.

Before the main talks, the Ukrainian delegation held separate meetings with a U.S. special envoy, representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, and officials from the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). They discussed ways to establish a future security framework for Ukraine and Europe.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was attending a Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers' meeting in Paris, France, also described the talks as "very productive." However, he stressed that "there is still a lot of work to be done," underscoring that it would be difficult to reach an agreement in the short term. He said European countries should also participate directly in future talks.

Russia did not offer a specific assessment of the first day's talks.

Despite the two sides returning to the negotiating table, their positions on territorial issues and ways to guarantee Ukraine's security remain far apart, making an early agreement unlikely.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated his opposition to the European side's demand that a ceasefire be implemented first. He rejected the ceasefire proposal, arguing that Europe was seeking to give Ukraine time to make up for its military losses.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.