Karina Bovsunovskaya21:14, 24.01.26

The most problematic issue is the territory of Ukraine.

During talks between delegations from Ukraine, the United States, and Russia in Abu Dhabi, progress was made on military issues, but no resolution has yet been reached on territorial matters, according to a source familiar with the details of the talks told RBC-Ukraine .

According to the source, the talks in Abu Dhabi ended constructively. He noted that this was the first real trilateral meeting with Russian and American representatives.

The source added that the first round of negotiations took place on January 23, and today, January 24, the delegations held an expanded meeting. The countries’ representatives then split into two subgroups—political and military.

“The two sections essentially negotiated separately. Today, the Russian representatives behaved appropriately. But this is their established negotiating tactic: first they start with a heated argument, and then, in the second stage, things become more constructive. Yesterday, Kostyukov, the head of their delegation, started giving a blitz about how we have Nazis and fascists roaming around Kyiv. But today, the conversation was different,” the source told RBC-Ukraine.

He emphasized that no significant progress had been made regarding the political section. Ukrainian representatives insist that the territorial issue can be discussed starting from the current line of contact. Meanwhile, the Russians continue to insist on the need to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the unoccupied territory of the Donetsk region.

“However, the parties managed to make progress in the military subgroup. They discussed whether a disengagement of forces was necessary, how the cessation of hostilities and the ceasefire would be monitored, the creation of a center to monitor and coordinate ceasefire issues, and which countries might be represented there,” the source noted.

The publication’s source said the military group agreed to prepare a definition of the timeframe for what would be considered a ceasefire, what would be considered a violation, and so on within a week—before the next meeting. Therefore, during the next talks, the countries’ representatives should exchange such proposals.

RBC-Ukraine also added that the Russian delegation initially stated that it did not want NATO, the OSCE, or European countries supporting our country during the war to be involved in monitoring and control.

“To which Driscoll (US Secretary of the Army – UNIAN) asked them, ‘You know that a significant portion of Ukraine’s resources comes from the US, so what if we participate in monitoring?’ The Russians thought for a moment and replied, ‘Yes, our presidents have developed a relationship of trust, so we’re not against it, let’s do it.’ Then Grinkevich (Commander of the Allied Joint Forces in Europe – UNIAN) asked a similar question about the control center. Overall, the Russians want only them, us, and the US to participate in monitoring,” the source noted.

At the same time, the publication’s source emphasized that the issue of an energy ceasefire was not raised during these talks. Overall, the parties agreed to continue negotiations in the same groups in about a week.

(C)UNIAN 2026