“The only way to get there”: why the United States wants Europe to participate in the next Ukraine negotiations – POLITICO

The atmosphere cooled from the first day to the second. On Tuesday, as negotiations lasted four and a half hours, officials on the ground in Abu Dhabi familiar with the talks described them as “constructive.” The best they could understand on Wednesday, when the session ended after just two hours, was that the exchange had been “neutral.”

In truth, few on the Ukrainian side believed that the resumption of face-to-face negotiations this week would provide a breakthrough. The most important announcement concerned the non-trivial issue of a planned prisoner exchange – which Kushner said would be the largest of the war so far, but even on this they failed to announce the final agreed figures.

Yet despite the hushed rhetoric, the meeting in the air-conditioned environs of a secure government guest house – where staff were constantly on hand to provide coffee, sandwiches and even pizza – was nonetheless an important moment in the journey towards peace after nearly five years of war.

Here’s what you need to know about the current situation.

What did they discuss?

All. According to Kushner, no major topics were discussed over the two days. The question of territory, he said, will clearly be “the most difficult” to resolve. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, kyiv’s negotiators scored a major victory on day one by convincing the Americans to accept their analysis of the position of the front line and how much Ukrainian territory Russia has conquered compared to what Moscow claims.

It is difficult to envision a quick resolution to the issue, although privately U.S. officials say both sides have shown some flexibility on how to resolve their territorial claims. Zelensky still insists, and it appears that American mediators agree, that issues related to the fate of Ukrainian land can only be discussed at the leadership level. This kind of meeting is still very far away. “Obviously there’s not a lot of trust or love between the leaders,” Kushner said.