2025 was an intense year of diplomatic exchanges in multilateral and bilateral formats with multiple peace plans, statements of demands, counter-proposals and negotiated documents aimed at finding a way out of the escalated Russia-Ukraine war. The most recent episode of exchanges involved an initial version of a USA-backed 28-point draft peace plan at the end of November 2025, that whose key proposals were the freezing ofthe frontline as the de facto border and the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the Donetsk region still controlled by Ukraine. These proposals were followed by several rounds of separate consultations of the USA with Russia and Ukraine, and the subsequent Geneva meeting in November as well as multiple other consultations involving the EU, the UK and other EU countries refined the November plan. At the end of January, US envoys met with the Russian leadership to discuss the 20-point framework refined in multiple consultations between the USA and other actors.
The last round of talks in Abu Dhabi on 23 and 24 January 2026 was the third episode of direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, following the winter-spring talks in 2022 and the May-June talks in 2025. At this time, Russia insists on the importance of this direct format to address the outstanding issues, as it considers that the current 20-point plan does not reflect its demands and believes that Russia should be consulted on the ongoing security guarantees discussions for Ukraine. Ukraine prefers to act through the USA as a mediator. In a recent interview, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Relations Andriy Sybiha argued for separate agreements signed by the USA with Ukraine and with Russia, which was later also questioned by Russia.
These intense diplomatic efforts are taking place amid highly escalated attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, with a very heavy impact on civilians, which is nearing a humanitarian catastrophe. According to UN figures, last year became the deadliest for civilians since the peak at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
The overall positive messages assessing the most recent round of talks in Abu Dhabi from the participating parties should not hide the underlying difficulties of the process. This latest round did not arrive at any concrete agreements, with the key outcome being an agreement to continue talks. The territorial questions remain at the center of contention as well as questions of historical memory, language, religion, and culture.
The May-June 2025 round of direct Russia-Ukraine talks failed to achieve compromise on the most divisive political issues and was followed by another period of escalation. A key issue in future will be whether it will be possible to sustain talks in different formats to enable a compromise on the core political questions and whether the talks will avoid breaking down again.