The first day of US-facilitated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in the United Arab Emirates ended as they look to move toward a deal to end their war as the fighting nears its fourth anniversary.
In his daily video address on February 4, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was briefed by Ukrainian delegation and that the first tangible result could be an exchange of prisoners of war between Ukraine and Russian in "the nearest future."
Direct negotiations involving Moscow and Kyiv, along with US representatives, resumed in Abu Dhabi on January 23-24. Meetings between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have been rare since the start of the Kremlin's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
"As of today, the negotiations have ended," Diana Davitian, a spokeswoman for Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's top negotiator, told journalists, adding that "it is planned" for the talks to continue on February 5.
US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, along with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are representing the United States at the negotiations with Ukraine and Russia.
Details of the talks on February 4 were not disclosed, but Umerov said earlier in the day that the negotiating teams would meet in separate groups to discuss specific topics and then follow up with a joint meeting to coordinate their positions.
Hopes for any breakthrough to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II are dim, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters early on February 4 that Russia's position in the talks remains unchanged and that it is "absolutely clear and well understood by both Kyiv and the American negotiators."
Ukrainian political analyst Ihor Reiterovych, speaking to Current Time, warned that the United States may underestimate Russian ambitions, saying there is "absolutely no guarantee" Putin will stop after gaining part of Ukraine.
Reiterovych urged stronger security guarantees for Ukraine, arguing they must be "written not like the Budapest Memorandum," referring to the 1994 agreement signed by the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom that guaranteed Ukrainian territorial integrity in exchange for Kyiv agreeing to eliminate its entire nuclear arsenal.
The talks come just hours after Russia's massive missile and drone strikes that hit the Ukrainian capital and other regions across the country, underscoring what Ukrainian officials have described as a familiar Kremlin tactic of using diplomacy to buy time while intensifying strikes.
Strikes Continue As Talks Resume
Russian forces launched over 100 drones on Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian Air Forces reported on February 4.
In Zaporizhzhya, two people were killed in a drone strike on a market district in the southeastern city. Twelve people, including four children, were also injured in the incident.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, two people were killed and two more were wounded as a result of a drone attack, according to the regional authorities.
"A 68-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man were killed" in the attack on Dnipropetrovsk region, Mykola Lukashuk, the head of the regional administration, wrote on Telegram.
In the southern region of Odesa, at least five people were injured in an overnight Russian attack, the regional authorities reported, adding that houses, kindergartens, and a school were damaged.
