Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S. were set to gather in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for peace talks.
A massive Russian drone and missile barrage in the run-up to the talks–pounding Ukraine’s energy grid and knocking out power and heating in temperatures far below freezing–threatened to overshadow any chances of progress in the Emirati capital.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday “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.”
The main sticking point is the long-term fate of territory in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow says any deal requires Ukraine to withdraw from large parts of the Donbas and recognize Russian control over occupied territories, while Kyiv insists the front line should remain as it is and rejects pulling back its forces.
