Ukraine peace talks resume with 'some flexibility' by warring sides, US officials say

Moscow and Kyiv are privately showing "a little bit of flexibility" on the issue of who would controls Ukraine's eastern regions in a postwar scenario, US officials have said. Senior officials from Moscow, Kyiv and Washington will meet in Abu Dhabi as the fifth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches.

Jared Kushner - Donald Trump's son-in-law and part of the US delegation alongside peace envoy Steve Witkoff - said the talks would be focused on addressing the "postwar security concerns" of both Russia and Ukraine. "An important part of this process is encouraging all parties to begin thinking seriously about what comes after the war," Kushner wrote on X.

A key area of disagreement between the two involves Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk, which is by now mostly occupied by Russia. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine relinquish the parts of Donetsk which it still holds, while Kyiv wants to freeze the contact line to maintain control over those sections, which it says are crucial to its future security.