Ukrainian and Russian negotiators wrapped up the first of two days of US-brokered talks aimed at untangling Moscow's nearly 5-year-old all-out war on Ukraine, though it was unclear what progress there had been, if any.
The November 10 talks in Abu Dhabi were the first face-to-face talks by Russian and Ukrainian officials since February and come amid a new push by the White House to break the logjam over Europe's largest and bloodiest land war since World War II.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who met with his Ukrainian counterpart in Paris while attending a G7 meeting, described the talks as "very productive."
"We think the trilateral (format) should eventually include our European partners at the table as well, because they are a part of solving this problem for the long term," he said.
Ahead of the meetings, US officials signaled optimism for the possibility of a substantive breakthrough. The White House's lead envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the discussions would likely include building on "existing European security institutions."
Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump and the other main US envoy in the process, said at the beginning of the session that Washington had "narrowed the gaps" toward a "solution that hopefully ends the war." He provided no details.
Russian officials, however, have given no indication that they were prepared to back off any of the hard-line demands that have been on the table since before the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
The Russian delegation was headed by Vladimir Medinsky, a revisionist historian and former culture minister who has, among other things, cast doubt on Ukraine's history and territorial integrity.
Other members included top officers with Russia's main intelligence agencies, including one whom Ukrainian authorities have accused of plotting the assassination of a Ukrainian military official.
Rustem Umerov, who is heading Ukraine's delegation, said Kyiv was focused on achieving security guarantees and a lasting peace.
It was not immediately clear what widening negotiations to include "existing European security institutions" would entail. However, one of Moscow's demands has been to block Ukraine from ever gaining the possibility to join the NATO.
For its part, the alliance maintains that no country should exercise veto power over another country's aspiration to join.
"The idea of defining clear parameters for a future security architecture, and only then moving on to resolving the actual Russia-Ukraine conflict, is absolutely reasonable," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.
Ukraine has also sought security guarantees from Western partner, to hedge against the potential for a future renewed Russian attack once the ongoing war ends.
Washington has asked Moscow to accept security guarantees for Ukraine, modeled on NATO's two central clauses, one of which stipulates an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
Germany, France, and Britain -- the so-called E3 -- are participating, alongside Italy, NATO, the European Union, and Ukraine. Their initial consultations with US representatives, however, were separate from the trilateral negotiations with Russia.
Despite eyewatering casualties that are estimated in excess of 1.5 million dead and wounded Russian soldiers, the Kremlin has pressed forward seeking its maximalist objectives.
On the battlefield, Russian authorities are seeking control of the entire of the eastern Donbas region, including territory it does not control.
Ukrainian forces, who are also suffering massive casualties, have battled Russian troops to a near standstill; in some places, they have taken back territory while inflicting major losses.
Russia is also pounding Ukrainian cities and towns in a near-daily aerial barrage, destroying energy and heating infrastructure, and raising the possibility of a brutal winter for Ukrainian civilians.
