Ukrainian delegation arrives in Abu Dhabi for second round of talks with U.S. and Russia

On the eve of the talks, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a massive Russian strike on energy facilities that the work of Ukraine’s negotiating team would be adjusted.

On Dec. 23 and 24, trilateral talks between Ukraine, the United States and Russia on establishing peace were held in Abu Dhabi. According to media reports, no decisions on territorial issues have been made, though some progress was achieved in discussions on military matters.

Zelenskyy has said that control over the Donbas and the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant were the most difficult issues in the talks. However, Ukraine’s position has not changed: Kyiv will not agree to hand over the Donetsk regionand the Luhansk region to Russia, the president has said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also said that the Donbas issue is the key problem in the peace talks and will be “very difficult” to resolve.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, insists on the so-called Anchorage formula, which calls for the withdrawal of Ukraine’s defense forces from the Donbas and the freezing of the current front lines.