U.S. State Secretary on Wednesday praised the positive progress in the second round of trilateral talks that U.S. officials are holding with Russia and Ukraine, although key issues remain unsolved.
“For the first time in a very long time, we have technical military teams from both Ukraine and Russia meeting in a forum that will also be involved within our experts,” said Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner joined in the talks in Abu Dhabi together with U.S. military experts.
According to Rubio, since President Trump returned to office, the U.S. already made significant progress in its goal to bring peace to Ukraine.
“We’ve committed a year to this. We think we’ve made real progress,” Rubio said.
“If you look at the checklist of open items that existed at this time last year and the checklist of open items that remain now in terms of reaching a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, that list has been substantially diminished,” he added.
However, Rubio added the bad news that the items remaining unsolved are also the most difficult ones to solve.
The Ukrainian side said Wednesday’s trilateral talks were successful, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling for more pressure on Russia.
“Today was a long day with many internal issues. Ukraine’s position is very clear. The war must truly be brought to an end. Russia must be ready for this,” he said.
The European Union also weighed in on the talks in Abu Dhabi, saying Russia is abusing the ceasefire talks to attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
“Putin can end this war right now. He doesn’t show any signs of wanting to do so,” Anitta Hipper, European Commission Spokesperson said. “He misuses even the discussions on the ceasefire to continuously attack the infrastructure and kill innocent people.”
A day before the talks, Russia launched a major attack on Ukraine using over 500 drones and 30 ballistic missiles.
Kyiv officials say the attack left over 1,000 people without heating in their apartments.
This attack was significant because Ukraine said it violated a one-week ceasefire on energy infrastructure.
Russia’s attacks on energy often leave thousands without heating.
Trump brokered the temporary truce amid frigid temperatures across Ukraine but said the strikes did not violate the ceasefire because it had already expired on Sunday.
New footage shows ice is spreading over a power plant in Kyiv, which was damaged in a Russian strike.
Footage also shows the extreme temperatures Ukrainians have to endure when heating fails after attacks on energy facilities.
Zelenskyy says Ukraine is now importing gas from additional countries, including the U.S., to help civilians amid the attacks.
