U.S. and Russia hold peace talks in Abu Dhabi as missiles pound Kyiv

U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has held unannounced talks with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi as part of an intense new push by President Donald Trump’s administration to end the war in Ukraine and more meetings were expected on Tuesday.

The talks come as U.S. and Ukrainian officials sought to narrow the gaps between them over a peace plan, with core issues still unresolved and Ukraine wary of being strong-armed into accepting a deal largely on the Kremlin’s terms.

The exact nature of the talks in Abu Dhabi, which were confirmed to Reuters by a U.S. official, were not immediately clear, and it was not known who was in the Russian delegation. The U.S. official added that Driscoll, who has emerged as a point man for U.S. diplomatic efforts, was also expected to meet Ukrainian officials while in Abu Dhabi.

Underlining the stakes for Ukraine, its capital Kyiv was hit by a barrage of missiles and hundreds of drones overnight in an attack that killed at least six people. Residents were sheltering underground wearing winter jackets, some in tents.

Zelenskyy: Will discuss sensitive issues with Trump

U.S. policy toward the war in Ukraine has zigzagged in recent months.

A hastily arranged summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August spurred worries in Kyiv and European capitals that Washington might accept many Russian demands, but ultimately resulted in more U.S. pressure on Russia.

The latest U.S. peace proposal, a 28-point plan that emerged last week, caught many in the U.S. government, Kyiv and Europe off-guard and prompted fresh concerns that the Trump administration might be willing to push Ukraine to sign a peace deal heavily tilted toward Moscow.

The plan would require Kyiv to cede more territory, accept curbs on its military and bar it from ever joining NATO, conditions Kyiv has long rejected as tantamount to surrender.

The sudden U.S. push raises the pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is now at his most vulnerable since the start of the war in 2022 after a corruption scandal saw two of his ministers dismissed and as Russia makes battlefield gains.

Mr. Zelenskyy said on Monday that the latest proposed peace plan had incorporated “correct” points after talks over the weekend in Geneva but that sensitive issues were still to be discussed with Trump.

“As of now, after Geneva, there are fewer points, no longer 28, and many correct elements have been incorporated into this framework,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

“Our team has already reported today on the new draft of steps and this is truly the right approach. The sensitive issues, the most delicate points, I will discuss with President Trump.”

Mr. Zelenskyy said the process of producing a final document would be difficult. The Kremlin said it had nothing to say yet about reports of the Abu Dhabi meeting.

“Currently, the only substantive thing is the American project, the Trump project,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “We believe that this could become a very good basis for negotiations.”

In a separate development, Romania sent out fighter jets to track drones which breached its territory near the border with Ukraine early on Tuesday, and one was still advancing deeper into the country, the defence ministry said.

Tensions have mounted along Europe’s eastern flank in recent months after suspected Russian drones breached the airspace of several NATO states.