Secretary Rubio called Tuesday’s session very productive and President Zelenskyy called it constructive, while Russia’s foreign minister rejected a ceasefire; for Sacramento’s Ukrainian community, one of the largest in the country, the outcome is personal.
American, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators were due back at the table in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for a second day of U.S.-brokered talks, the first substantive negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow since February. The Trump administration has framed the round as an attempt not at another pause in the fighting but at a settlement that lasts.
“We have to build something new that works today,” a U.S. administration official said before the talks, The Guardian reported. “Because if all the old architecture was working well, then we wouldn’t be in this long war. And so obviously something’s not working, and we need to come up with a way that when we end this war, it really is a final end to the war.”
What Washington says it wants
Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and a lead U.S. negotiator, described the American aim on Monday as a new framework for European security built on “stronger consultation, reliable crisis communications, greater military transparency, and reciprocal measures to reduce escalation risks, while fully respecting the sovereignty and independent decision-making of every nation.”
Administration officials said the United States had discussed with Russia security guarantees for Ukraine similar to NATO’s Article 5. “What they would be getting would be effectively very similar to Nato,” one official said, calling a U.S. guarantee “a really, really big deal” that would be for Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to decide. Officials also said negotiators could revive the NATO-Russia Council, suspended after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and could lift sanctions on Russia as part of a deal. After meeting the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev last week, Mr. Trump said he would seek a “big, beautiful agreement” that “might involve all of Europe.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Paris on Tuesday, called the first day “very productive,” Euronews reported, and answered European worries about being sidelined. “There’s always this concern in Europe that they’re going to be left out, that America’s going to cut some deal with Russia and leave Europe out of the equation. Well, Europe’s at the table. They’re with us,” he said. He said expanding the talks to include other European voices was a goal.
Kyiv, Moscow and Europe
Mr. Zelenskyy, who like President Vladimir Putin was not in Abu Dhabi, called the first day “constructive and fairly substantive.” “We discussed in detail the substance of security guarantees for Ukraine and the foundations for their long-term implementation,” he wrote. Ukraine’s delegation is led by Rustem Umerov.
Moscow’s public line was cooler. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected a ceasefire and accused Europeans of seeking a truce in order to deploy troops to Ukraine, Euronews reported. Of the European officials who traveled to the Emirates, he said: “Well, they flew to Abu Dhabi. Let them sit there in the hotel.” The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declined to forecast results. “Let’s not answer such questions, especially now, while the talks are still ongoing,” he said, according to TASS. Russia’s delegation is led by Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin aide, and includes Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who helped draft Moscow’s 2021 demands that NATO pull back from Eastern Europe.
European officials met separately with the Ukrainian and American delegations and agreed in a joint statement that “any future arrangements must respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, independent decision-making, and provide credible security guarantees for Ukraine.” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, told G7 ministers that a European security architecture already exists. “The problem is that Russia is not respecting these agreements,” she said.
The sticking point: territory
The talks have covered prisoner exchanges, security guarantees and possible de-escalation, but territory remains the central dispute. Russia still demands all of the Donbas region, including areas its forces have not captured; Kyiv refuses to give up land. A senior U.S. official told American media that both sides have shown some private flexibility and that the territorial question cannot be settled before Ukraine’s postwar security arrangements are agreed. Mr. Trump has said Ukraine would probably end up with a “little bit different shape.”
Why it matters in California
California is home to almost 60,000 immigrants from Ukraine, second only to New York, according to a Public Policy Institute of California analysis of 2016-2020 census data. The Sacramento region has more of them, about 20,000, than any other metropolitan area in the state, and ranks first in the nation in the share of its population born in Ukraine; the Bay Area is home to about 14,000. Most speak Russian or Ukrainian at home, and more than half hold at least a bachelor’s degree, according to the institute.
The talks also bear on what Californians pay for fuel. Mr. Trump has urged Kyiv to stop striking Russian diesel refineries, blaming the attacks for rising energy prices, Euronews reported; regular gasoline in California averaged about $5.74 a gallon early Tuesday, according to AAA.
The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, the Atlantic Council and the Center for Strategic and International Studies did not respond to requests for comment from The Inquirer on Tuesday. The second day of talks was scheduled for Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, which is 12 hours ahead of California.
Nasrin Haidari covers foreign affairs and geopolitics, including diplomacy, trade disputes and conflicts, and their ties to California and the Pacific. More from Nasrin Haidari
