Zelenskyy says meeting with US, Russia "constructive, quite substantive"

Ukraine, the US, and Russia held constructive talks in Abu Dhabi focusing on prisoners, security, and de-escalation. Meanwhile, ongoing fighting claimed five civilian lives in Lugansk and three plant workers at Zaporizhzhia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the first day of the two-day trilateral talks involving Ukraine, the US and Russia, hosted in Abu Dhabi, was "constructive and quite substantive". In a public statement published on X after speaking with Ukraine's negotiating team on Tuesday (local time), the Ukrainian head of state noted that the discussions centred heavily on humanitarian concerns, such as prisoner releases, alongside robust security assurances for Kyiv. Furthermore, stakeholders addressed the pressing need for de-escalation measures, he added.

Zelenskyy said he had provided the Ukrainian negotiating team with explicit directives regarding further discussions on Wednesday, alongside upcoming broader meetings over the following days involving US presidential envoys and European representatives. Earlier on Tuesday, official delegations representing Moscow, Washington and Kyiv convened in the capital of the United Arab Emirates for their first trilateral talks since February.

Prior to the commencement of the formal trilateral talks, the Ukrainian delegation conferred with representatives from Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy, as well as delegates from the European Commission and NATO. The high-level meeting also hosted American special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.

Meanwhile, attacks continue unabated across both nations. Five non-combatants, including a civilian commuter on a public bus, were killed in Ukrainian strikes targeting the Lugansk region over the preceding 24 hours, regional leader Leonid Pasechnik said on Tuesday. "It's been a difficult day for our republic: five people were killed, and four more were injured," Pasechnik said on the social media platform Telegram.

In a separate development, three staff members employed at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant were killed in Ukrainian bombardments over the past fortnight, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told reporters on the same day. (ANI)