Overview
- This week U.S. mediators reopened direct Russia‑Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi and won a commitment to pursue a large prisoner exchange, though numbers and timing remain unconfirmed.
- Envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff flew to Moscow to brief President Vladimir Putin and then to Dublin to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Washington pushes to expand the talks.
- Moscow said it would only accept wider European involvement after it assesses Europeans’ “genuine intentions” and insisted on a single authorised European interlocutor, while EU capitals remain divided on who should speak for the continent.
- Russian negotiators pressed for a post‑war redesign of European security, reiterated territorial claims and warned that any Western troops in Ukraine would be rejected and treated as legitimate targets.
- Heavy fighting and humanitarian strain persist along the front, no ceasefire was agreed, and future progress now depends on whether Europe names a unified representative and on Moscow’s response to that offer.