Ukraine and Russia plan more direct talks after U.S.-brokered meeting, even as strikes hit Kyiv and Kharkiv

Ukraine and Russia have agreed to hold another round of face-to-face talks next weekend after U.S.-brokered discussions in Abu Dhabi, a step American officials described as meaningful progress toward a potential settlement in the nearly four-year war. The talks marked some of the first publicly reported direct contact between Ukrainian and Russian officials tied to a new U.S. effort to end the conflict.

The renewed diplomatic track unfolded alongside fresh violence. Ukraine’s foreign minister criticized Russia for launching drone and missile attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv during the Abu Dhabi meetings, framing the strikes as a sign that Moscow was undermining negotiations even while participating in them. Officials in the capital said the attacks damaged critical infrastructure and contributed to widespread outages of heat, water and power.

According to the report, the next round of talks would resume on February 1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a great deal was discussed and stressed that the conversations had been constructive, even as Ukraine continued to press its concerns about the timing and intensity of Russian attacks.

U.S. envoys also held separate conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the trilateral peace talks, with American officials characterizing the discussions as lengthy and productive. The multiple channels — direct contacts and parallel diplomatic engagement — reflect a push to narrow remaining issues and set terms that could be translated into a broader agreement.

Elsewhere, the conflict continued to generate economic and security spillovers. French authorities intercepted an oil tanker suspected of being part of a network used to evade sanctions, and Russian and Ukrainian officials traded claims about strikes and battlefield gains in contested regions. The fast-moving mix of diplomacy and combat underscores how fragile any negotiating window could be as winter fighting continues.