The first U.S.-mediated trilateral talks between Russia and Ukraine in months have opened a narrow diplomatic channel—but the distance between the two sides remains stark. Discussions in Abu Dhabi are testing whether Washington can turn separate consultations into a workable peace process without papering over fundamental disagreements.

The American approach is framed as practical and security-focused. U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are leading two days of working-level discussions on territorial questions and postwar security. Kushner said the goal was to bring the parties together to discuss “postwar security concerns, proposals, and potential solutions.”¹ That emphasis suggests Washington is seeking a framework broad enough to address both the war’s immediate end and the security arrangements that would follow it.

Ukraine, however, sees the talks through a more adversarial lens. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia claimed to control half of the Donbas, a portrayal he rejected as detached from reality: “Putin lives in a different reality.”² He nevertheless described the first day as constructive and substantive, and said he detected a more favorable approach from the American mediators.

That cautious optimism is matched by uncertainty. Zelenskyy said the agenda included a possible new European security architecture, but warned that Kyiv had not seen the documents discussed between Washington and Moscow. European officials, meanwhile, fear that Russian demands for NATO to reduce its presence in eastern Europe could leave allies exposed.²

The talks are also unfolding alongside military and political pressure. Ukraine is urging faster U.S. deliveries of air-defense interceptors and wants continued pressure on Moscow, even while offering limited ceasefire ideas. In Europe, disputes over funding for Ukraine—and warnings over unidentified drones near Baltic airspace—underscore how diplomacy remains entangled with the wider security crisis. Abu Dhabi has produced contact, but not yet convergence.