Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Stretch Into a Second Day

Little has been made public so far, but negotiators were expected to talk about the fate of Ukrainian territory in the east and security guarantees for Ukraine.A power plant that was heavily damaged by recent Russian missile and drone strikes in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday.Credit...Valentyn Ogirenko/ReutersFeb. 5, 2026Updated 5:21 a.m. ETNegotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States pressed on with their second round of peace talks on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates. Little has been made public so far other than an announcement of a planned exchange of prisoners of war and Russian and Ukrainian statements that progress was being made.Russia launched another attack on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, early Thursday, though it was smaller than the devastating strikes on Ukraine’s power grid early Tuesday. In that attack, Russia fired five ballistic missiles at one thermal power plant in Kyiv, almost destroying it.The trilateral negotiations lasted for about five and a half hours Wednesday. Officials did not say what was discussed behind closed doors, but the delegations in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirates, had been expected to talk about the two main obstacles to any peace deal: the fate of Ukrainian-controlled territory in the east that Russia wants and how Ukraine’s security would be guaranteed if Russia again attacks.Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin special envoy and head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, told reporters in Abu Dhabi before the talks started on Thursday morning that “there is positive movement forward.”Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that it was too early to comment on any potential outcome of the talks, and that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was being regularly briefed.On Wednesday evening, Rustem Umerov, who leads Ukraine’s delegation and is the secretary of the country’s National Security Council, described the first day of the second round of talks as “meaningful” and said negotiators had focused on “practical solutions.”In a speech on Wednesday night, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine did not mention specifics, but he said he had talked to the negotiating team and expected an exchange of prisoners in the near future between Russia and Ukraine. The most recent exchange of prisoners was in early October.Photographs released by the Emirati government Wednesday showed Mr. Umerov and Kyrylo Budanov, Mr. Zelensky’s chief of staff, seated with other Ukrainian officials at tables set up in a U shape. Facing them was the Russian delegation, made up of military intelligence figures.ImageA photograph released by the United Arab Emirates shows members of the U.S., Russian and Ukrainian delegations attending the second round of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.Credit...UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, via ReutersAt a third table between the Russians and the Ukrainians sat the American delegation, including Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy; Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law; and Daniel P. Driscoll, the Army secretary.The trilateral negotiations, first held over two days in January, are the most public sign of progress so far in Mr. Trump’s push to negotiate an end to four years of war after Russia’s full-scale invasion.Oleksandra Mykolyshyn and Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed reporting.Kim Barker is a Times reporter writing in-depth stories about the war in Ukraine.SKIP