Witkoff and Kushner bring Kyiv and Moscow back to one table in the Emirates, with Europe talking from the sidelines

Direct talks between Ukraine and Russia resume in Abu Dhabi today and tomorrow, with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner acting as mediators. According to Euronews, it is the first three-way round since February, when the war with Iran absorbed Washington's attention. Ukraine is sending Rustem Umerov, head of the foreign intelligence service, together with Kyrylo Budanov and Davyd Arakhamia among others. Russia's team is led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, with two deputy foreign ministers and, according to Meduza, two General Staff officers.

Europe is not at the negotiating table but is present in the city. The European Commission and the European Council are sending a joint team led by Bjoern Seibert, Ursula von der Leyen's chief of staff, and Anna-Maria Boura, an adviser to Council President António Costa, Business AM reports. The national security advisers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom and a NATO representative are also travelling. Umerov plans separate coordination meetings with them. The Kremlin insists the talks remain trilateral.

According to the participants, security guarantees, a truce on energy infrastructure and free navigation in the Black Sea are on the agenda. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that progress had been made on post-war guarantees but that nothing was settled, VRT NWS reports. A proposal by Kushner for a new European security architecture has met resistance among allies. According to Meduza, Russia is sticking to its demand to take all of the Donbas, which Kyiv rules out.