Ukraine and Russia meet for second day of direct talks on US peace plan

Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States were meeting in Abu Dhabi yesterday for the second day of negotiations on a plan being pushed by US President Donald Trump to end the almost four-year-long war.

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TRILATERAL TALKS: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan receives the heads of delegations for the US, Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi.

The first known direct contact between Ukrainian and Russian officials on the proposal began Friday. Ukraine's chief negotiator Rustem Umerov said the discussions focused “on the parameters for ending Russia’s war and the further logic of the negotiation process”.

An initial US draft drew heavy criticism in Kyiv and western Europe for hewing too closely to Moscow’s line, while later iterations prompted push-back from Russia for floating the idea of European peacekeepers.

Both sides say the fate of territory in the eastern Donbas region is one of the main outstanding issues in the search for a settlement to a war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and decimated parts of Ukraine.