Trump Brokers Trilateral Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks in Abu Dhabi

The Donald Trump administration brokered a second round of trilateral peace negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States in Abu Dhabi from February 4-5, 2026. Following an initial session in late January, these meetings sought to implement a U.S.-drafted peace plan. While Ukrainian representative Rustem Umerov described the sessions as substantive and productive, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that the most difficult items remain unresolved. The primary deadlock centers on Russia's demand for full control of the Donetsk region, which Ukraine has rejected, proposing instead a freeze along current front lines.

Diplomatic efforts were preceded by preparatory meetings in Florida and Miami between U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Trump also secured a temporary cold-weather truce to halt Russian strikes on energy infrastructure. However, the ceasefire was contested and fragmented; Russia continued drone attacks, including a February 1 strike on a DTEK company bus in the Dnipropetrovsk region that killed between 12 and 16 miners. Other strikes hit a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia and residential areas in Dnipro.

As talks concluded, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced plans to transition Ukraine to a contract-based army of 800,000 personnel following a potential ceasefire. Tensions escalated further as Russia threatened a nuclear winter in response to a pact between the UK, France, and Ukraine to deploy Western troops to Ukraine once a ceasefire is established. All three parties agreed to meet again in the near future.