Ukraine Peace Talks in Abu Dhabi: Europe to Join Despite Kremlin Objections
European officials will take part in this week’s US-brokered peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, France’s foreign minister said on Sunday, despite the Kremlin insisting there was no place for European powers at the meeting. The talks, due on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 November in the United Arab Emirates, will be the fourth round between the two countries brokered by the Trump administration and the first since talks in Geneva in February.
The announcement came as Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy system left about 850,000 people without electricity in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions on Sunday, a reminder of how much is at stake as winter approaches.
Who Is Taking Part in the Abu Dhabi Talks?
“France will be there and will ensure that Europe’s voice is heard,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told French radio, NPR reported. He did not say who would represent Paris or whether European officials would negotiate directly or observe. Il Sole 24 Ore reported European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as saying that the EU is taking part. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hoped the talks would bring progress towards a settlement and confirmed that Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would attend, the paper’s live coverage reported.
The meeting had been presented as a three-way session between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ruled out a European role, saying the trilateral format had already been agreed, although he acknowledged that security talks would at some point require Europe’s involvement.
Russia is sending its most senior team yet. The delegation will again be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a hardline aide to President Vladimir Putin, and for the first time includes Deputy Foreign Ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, Yury Zhigarlovsky of the General Staff’s operations directorate, and military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov.
- Dates: 10 and 11 November 2026
- Venue: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Mediator: United States
- Agenda: post-war security arrangements, de-escalation and humanitarian issues, according to US envoy Steve Witkoff
- New element: European participation, opposed by the Kremlin
What Is on the Table?
Witkoff has said the agenda will cover post-war security arrangements, de-escalation and humanitarian issues. The talks follow a limited ceasefire, helped by First Lady Melania Trump, that allowed humanitarian aid into a town in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
President Donald Trump met Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev on Thursday and said a coming agreement was “going to involve more than Ukraine”, adding that it “might involve all of Europe”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN he had not been given details of that agreement. “For me, it’s not simple, and it can be dangerous,” he said, comparing it with the 1945 Yalta conference, where Allied leaders settled Europe’s division without several affected countries in the room. Zelenskyy wants discussions on ending the war and security guarantees to come first.
Why Have Previous Peace Talks Failed?
Earlier rounds made little progress, and the chances of a breakthrough fell as Washington focused on its war with Iran. Moscow agreed to return to the table only after Witkoff met Putin in St Petersburg in October, a visit we covered in our report on Steve Witkoff’s Putin talks. Putin then released an American prisoner, which was seen as a gesture after Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports, a move Ukraine strongly opposed.
The gaps remain wide. Russia demands that Ukraine give up large parts of its territory and renounce NATO membership. Zelenskyy insists that any security commitments must spell out clearly who would act, and how, if Russia attacked again. The US think tank the Institute for the Study of War noted that some of the senior Russian officials now joining have previously tried to slow talks or push harder on Moscow’s demands.
How Are Russian Strikes Affecting Ukraine?
Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure continued in the run-up to the talks. More than 600,000 people lost power in the Dnipropetrovsk region and another 250,000 in Kharkiv on Sunday, according to 10 Things News, and Russia launched another major attack on Kyiv ahead of the meeting. Strikes on power plants and substations have become a feature of each winter of the war, leaving millions facing cuts to heating and water.
What Happens Next?
The first sessions open in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. The main things to watch are whether European officials are admitted into the room or kept to the sidelines, whether the two sides agree any further humanitarian steps or local ceasefires, and whether the US produces the wider framework Trump has hinted at. Nordic leaders have also kept up pressure on Moscow, as our report on Stubb and Støre’s call with Putin explains.
Featured image: the Abu Dhabi skyline from the Corniche, by Sabithnav / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. File photo.
Sources
- NPR — Europe to join U.S.-brokered Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi, defying Kremlin objections (8 November 2026).
- 10 Things News — 10 Things Global News, 9th November 2026 (9 November 2026).
- Il Sole 24 Ore — Ukraine, von der Leyen: ‘The EU is taking part in the Abu Dhabi talks’ (live) (9 November 2026).
