A new round of trilateral Ukraine-US-Russia talks is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi just one day after Russia’s largest attack against Ukraine this winter, as Moscow launched a record number of missiles, targeting Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that the assignment and the position of Ukraine’s delegation in Abu Dhabi will be “adjusted” after Russia launched its largest aerial attack against Ukraine overnight on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy reiterated that by launching 71 missiles and 450 drones against Ukraine, Russia demonstrated its true intentions, which remain unchanged since the first day of the full-scale invasion in early 2022.
“Each such Russian strike confirms that attitudes in Moscow have not changed: they continue to bet on war and the destruction of Ukraine, and they do not take diplomacy seriously," Zelenskyy said. "The work of our negotiating team will be adjusted accordingly.”
The Ukrainian president did not elaborate on what exactly he would change and how Kyiv’s approach would be different after the latest attack, where Moscow used Iskander-M/S-300 ballistic missiles against Ukraine’s civilian and energy infrastructure.
As the temperatures in Ukraine are dropping below -20C, Moscow has intensified its targeted strike campaign over the past few weeks.
"Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorize people is more important to Russia than turning to diplomacy," Zelenskyy said on X.
He further added that Russia used the US proposal to halt attacks on energy facilities not to support diplomatic efforts, but to stockpile missiles and strike on the coldest days of the year.
"Without pressure on Russia, there will be no end to this war. Right now, Moscow is choosing terror and escalation, and that is why maximum pressure is required," Zelenskyy stated.
No breakthrough in talks
The first round of the trilateral talks in the Emirati capital at the end of January yielded few results.
Although all sides described the negotiations as “constructive”, Ukraine’s territories temporarily occupied by Russia remain the key sticking point.
The central issue is whether Russia would keep or withdraw from the areas of Ukraine its forces have occupied, especially Ukraine’s eastern industrial area of the Donbas, which includes the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine.
Moscow has been trying to occupy this area since Russia’s initial invasion of 2014, but still does not control the entirety of the two regions 12 years later.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the talks as “very complex”.
“On some issues, we have certainly come closer because there have been discussions, conversations, and on some issues it is easier to find common ground,” Peskov said. “There are issues where it’s more difficult to find common ground.”
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev was in Miami over the weekend for talks with US officials. However, Peskov refused to provide any details of the meeting.