According to media reports, the second day of negotiations between representatives from Moscow and Kiev in Abu Dhabi under US mediation in the struggle to end the Ukraine war has ended. This was reported by Russian state media and the Ukrainian news agency Interfax-Ukraine. According to the Russian state news agency Tass, the continuation of the tripartite talks that began on Tuesday lasted less than two hours and was therefore shorter than the start the day before. Concrete results were initially not known.
According to the Kremlin, the Russian delegation to the Ukraine peace talks in Abu Dhabi has no contact with European representatives on site. No such meetings are planned, said Russian Presidential Office spokesman Dmitry Peskov. President Vladimir Putin will be continuously informed by the delegation about the status of the negotiations.
The South Korean presidential advisor for peace diplomacy, Song Young Gil, has criticized Europe's Russia policy in an unusually harsh manner and called for a rapprochement with Moscow. There is a kind of “Russophobia” in Europe, Song said at a forum at the National Assembly in Seoul. He also criticized the fact that Russia was portrayed “like Hitler”.
Regarding a possible end to the Ukraine war, Song also said that South Korea should participate in the reconstruction of both Ukraine and Russia and focus on its own interests.
The Russian domestic secret service FSB says it has arrested two people who are said to have spied for Poland. The two agents of the Polish secret service had collected information about military facilities in the Kaliningrad region, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the FSB. Seven Polish and three Russian citizens were also warned for contacts with Polish security services.
A drone attack sparked a fire in the port area of Ust-Luga on Russia's Baltic Sea coast, according to the regional governor. In addition, a power plant was disconnected from the network as a result of the attack, as Governor Alexander Drozdenko announced via the short message service Telegram. 146 drones were shot down over the Leningrad region. Ust-Luga is an important export port for, among other things, oil and grain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj was encouraged by the signals from US mediators after the first day of peace talks in Abu Dhabi. "I see changes. I'm very happy with what I hear," Zelensky said late Tuesday evening on the sidelines of a meeting in Denmark. He described the trilateral negotiations as constructive and substantial. However, positions on the order of peace steps are further apart.
Zelenskyj called for a clear process. "First: ending the war in Ukraine. Second: security guarantees for Ukraine. Third: perhaps a dialogue on the issue of security in Europe, in the world," Zelensky said. This order is very important in this case, the President emphasized. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had previously stated in Moscow that his government first wanted to negotiate a broader European security framework.
A drone attack on critical infrastructure has caused power outages and affected water and heat supplies in parts of the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih. As the head of the city's Defense Council, Oleksandr Wilkul, announced on the short message service Telegram, the water and sewage systems were stabilized with generators.
The heat supply is becoming more difficult, and houses, schools and kindergartens have also been damaged. Rescue workers and supply services are on duty. Kryvyi Rih is an industrial metropolis and the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky. The latest attack came amid renewed peace efforts and the first Russian-Ukrainian talks in nine months in Abu Dhabi.
Latvia and Lithuania have raised the alarm about a threat in the airspace. Early on Wednesday morning, residents in several regions of both countries were called upon to seek shelter, the authorities said. The reason for this was unknown drones that had entered the airspace over neighboring Russia or Belarus. NATO air surveillance fighter planes then took off. According to Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center, the warning also applied to the country's second largest city, Kaunas, with around 300,000 residents. There were initially no reports of injuries.
Ukrainian military drones have recently repeatedly invaded the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This is fueling concerns that the war in Ukraine could spill over into NATO states bordering Russia and its ally Belarus. During Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil ports on the Baltic Sea, some drones missed their targets and triggered security warnings in neighboring countries.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the first day of negotiations in Abu Dhabi, negotiators from Kiev and Moscow primarily discussed a prisoner exchange. “One would like to exchange 1,000 for 1,000, possibly 1,500 for 1,500, a big exchange,” Zelensky said at a news conference in Copenhagen.
The US delegation will travel to Russia “with this agenda” after the negotiations, Zelensky said. The Russian side also raised the territorial issue. “This is a question at the level of the heads of state,” Zelensky emphasized, but his negotiators still had a mandate to discuss this issue.
Ukraine's relations with South Korea are on the mend after a dispute over North Korean prisoners of war, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha. According to Ukrainian media, Sybiha said he had a “good meeting” with his South Korean colleague Cho Hyun on the sidelines of a G7 ministerial meeting.
South Korea recalled its ambassador in October. Previously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to the South. According to Seoul, the disclosure violated a confidential agreement.
A tanker carrying the first shipment of Russian diesel for the United States is interrupting its journey off the US east coast, according to shipping data. The ship's destination has not yet been determined, the Greek operating company Eastmed told the Reuters news agency. The tanker is waiting for instructions. In October, US President Donald Trump surprisingly announced an agreement with the government in Moscow on diesel imports from Russia.
He wanted to lower fuel prices before the US midterm elections. However, New Jersey's Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill has warned local port authorities and terminal operators not to accept the Russian diesel, saying it violates federal law.
On the first day of their talks in Abu Dhabi, Ukraine and Russia agreed on a new prisoner exchange, according to media reports. “It was possible to agree on a large exchange of prisoners of war in the near future,” reported the Internet portal “Ukrainskaya Pravda”, citing sources in the Ukrainian negotiating group. Other media such as the “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency also reported on it without giving any details. There was initially no official confirmation.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has called for Europe to participate in a continuation of the newly started negotiations between Ukraine and Russia mediated by the USA. The CDU politician told journalists in Paris at the end of the discussions with his colleagues from the G7 round of economically strong democracies that he was “not ultimately satisfied” with the fact that the Europeans were informed by the USA and Ukraine at the current talks in Abu Dhabi, but were not present at the subsequent meeting with Russia.
According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the first day of US-mediated talks between representatives of Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi is very productive. But there is still “a lot of work” to be done. The aim is also to expand the trilateral negotiations to Europe as they progress, says Rubio at the end of the G7 ministerial meeting in Paris.
Talks between Ukraine, Russia and the USA in Abu Dhabi about ways to end the war have ended today. They will continue tomorrow, Ukraine said.
Ukrainian drone attacks have reduced refinery capacity in Russia by around 30 percent since the end of October, according to industry insiders. Last week, nine of Russia's 35 major refineries experienced disruptions or incidents. The country's second largest refinery in Kirishi near St. Petersburg was hit on Monday. A fire broke out and a woman was killed. In total, plants with a processing capacity of around 300,000 tons of crude oil per day are affected. The actual decline in processing is likely to be up to 200,000 tonnes per day.
The attacks exacerbate Russia's problems supplying the domestic fuel market. At the same time, the country continues to supply diesel to the global market as part of an agreement with US President Donald Trump. Ukraine stepped up its attacks after an energy ceasefire announced by Trump failed to materialize in late October. Moscow accuses Kiev of ignoring calls to stop the attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky defends the drone strikes as a response to Russian attacks on his country's energy and utility infrastructure.
Russia rejects an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. It would be wiser to first discuss the basic principles of a future security architecture in Europe and only then talk about a ceasefire in Ukraine, said Lavrov, referring to the ongoing talks between Russia, Ukraine and the USA in Abu Dhabi.
Poland has arrested two Ukrainians on suspicion of espionage and sabotage on behalf of Russian secret services. The suspects are accused, among other things, of spying on critical infrastructure and military facilities throughout the country, the Internal Security Agency (ABW) announced on Tuesday. They are also said to have set vehicles on fire after replacing their license plates with ones that resembled those of the Ukrainian military.
“The investigation revealed that the acts of sabotage were carried out at the behest of Russian secret services and served to stir up anti-Ukrainian sentiment,” the prosecutor’s office said. For executing the orders, they were paid in cryptocurrencies, among other things. If convicted, the two men face ten years to life in prison.
Representatives from the US, Ukraine and Europe met in Abu Dhabi ahead of US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine, according to US special envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff said participants discussed how to build on existing European security institutions and agreements after the war. “In addition to the central focus on lasting peace, the discussion also focused on how existing European security institutions and agreements can be built upon after the end of the war in Ukraine,” Witkoff wrote on the online platform X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Denmark later today for a meeting with the leaders of the Nordic countries. This was announced by the office of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. The talks should, among other things, focus on military support for Ukraine and security in Europe, the statement continued.
After a break of more than eight months, Russia and Ukraine have begun two-day negotiations under US mediation in Abu Dhabi to end the war. Russian state media showed the start of the meeting in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
According to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, representatives of European countries are present at the talks in Abu Dhabi. There can be no talks with Russia about European security until a ceasefire is agreed and peace is established, Barrot told Franceinfo radio.
