ABU DHABI — Three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States opened in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, and the first day concluded after nearly four hours, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said. The talks are expected to resume on Wednesday, according to the press office of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.

Source: Associated Press via WNCW/NPR, Nov 10, 2026

The session is the first trilateral meeting since February and is being held over two days, November 10-11, in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, as Washington makes another push to end the war that followed Moscow's all-out invasion of Ukraine nearly five years ago. The White House said before the discussions that they would focus on establishing future security guarantees: Russia sees NATO as a threat, and Ukraine wants guarantees that would prevent a future Russian invasion.

Source: Associated Press via WNCW/NPR, Nov 10, 2026

The delegations had arrived in Abu Dhabi on Monday after a night of long-range strikes, with security guarantees at the centre of the agenda. Read the earlier report: delegations arrive in Abu Dhabi

US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is trying to broker a settlement alongside US envoy Steve Witkoff, said he believed there were 'some good ideas how to bridge' the differences between the two sides. In opening remarks, Kushner said the goal was to 'create a new framework and a new understanding building upon the different institutions and understandings of the past': 'We take what's worked, we try to identify what's failed, why we're in this position and hopefully create a new framework that leads us for decades, if not centuries, of peace.'

Source: Associated Press via WNCW/NPR, Nov 10, 2026

Kushner also told delegates that recent contacts with both sides had 'really identified, narrowed the gaps' and that Trump was committed to achieving peace, Reuters reported. He said US negotiators believed, from their discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the past two months, that Putin was prepared to reach a peace agreement under the right conditions — an assessment AnewZ reported from the opening session. That is Washington's stated view of Putin's intentions, not a new commitment announced by the Russian president.

Source: Reuters via Just Security, Nov 10, 2026; AnewZ, Nov 10, 2026

The two sides' demands are still far apart

The Russian and Ukrainian governments remain far apart on key elements of any deal, the AP reported. Putin wants Ukraine to pull its troops back from four Ukrainian regions Moscow annexed in September 2022 but has never fully captured, and demands that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO, accept strict limits on its military and drop restrictions on the Russian language and the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church. Putin wants a comprehensive deal on those conditions and will not agree to a general halt in hostilities, arguing it would only let Ukrainian troops rest and replenish weapons. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was visiting Denmark on Tuesday, rejects demands to voluntarily cede territory and any limits on Ukraine's military or its arrangements with Western partners, and Kyiv argues an immediate ceasefire is the necessary first step and that only a direct Putin-Zelenskyy meeting can settle territorial issues — suggestions Putin has spurned.

Source: Associated Press via WNCW/NPR, Nov 10, 2026

Russia's chief negotiator is Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin aide who has led Moscow's team since the first direct talks in Istanbul in March 2022; his delegation also includes deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov and General Yuri Zhigarlovsky. Ukraine's delegation is led by Rustem Umerov, head of its Foreign Intelligence Service, alongside Kyrylo Budanov, Davyd Arakhamia, Serhii Kyslytsia and Vadym Skibitskyi. Umerov said the day began with a meeting between the Ukrainian team, the US envoys and representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, NATO and the European Commission. NATO commander US General Alexus Grynkewich, who was also present, pointed to past progress in military-to-military dialogue in a trilateral format, and Medinsky said he hoped the meeting would 'advance on the path towards peace in the interests of the people of Russia and the people of Ukraine.'

Source: Associated Press via WNCW/NPR, Nov 10, 2026

Expectations outside the room stayed low. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a ZDF television interview on Monday night: 'I don't have overly high expectations' for the talks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow welcomed the US proposal, at Trump's request, to put collective security at the top of the agenda, while some in the European Union see Washington's proposals as too accommodating to Moscow, the AP reported. Russia has objected to Europeans sitting in the three-way talks but said EU representatives could join at a later stage. The White House is 'cautiously optimistic' about this week's talks, US officials told Axios, Reuters reported.

Source: Associated Press via WNCW/NPR, Nov 10, 2026; Reuters via Just Security, Nov 10, 2026

The talks opened hours after another night of strikes, in which Russia launched 162 drones and an Iskander missile at 19 locations in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said. Read: Russia's overnight strike wave before the talks

There are no signs the fighting is abating. Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 162 drones of various types and a ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight, while Russia's Ministry of Defense said its forces shot down 155 Ukrainian drones overnight over eight Russian regions and over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 — each figure is the claim of the side that reported it. The two armies are largely deadlocked on the front line, and hopes of progress are tempered by the absence of significant breakthroughs in three previous rounds of talks early this year; the war has killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians, analysts and humanitarian organisations say.

Source: Associated Press via WNCW/NPR, Nov 10, 2026

What happens next: the delegations return on Wednesday, November 11 for the second and final scheduled day. No joint statement had been issued when the first day ended, and the markers to watch are any agreed ceasefire or energy-strike step, any parallel statements as the delegations leave, and whether the European partners coordinating on the sidelines are brought into a later stage, as Moscow has said is possible.