The first day of US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi went well enough for both Washington and Kyiv to praise it, but US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that a settlement is not close.
MoneyTurkey Politics Desk | 10 November 2026
Key points
- Rubio called Tuesday’s trilateral session “very productive” but said the war was not “on the verge of being solved in the next 24 hours”.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the talks were “constructive and quite substantive”, covering security guarantees and prisoner releases.
- Zelenskyy wants Europe to pick a single negotiator by the end of November, ideally at a Coalition of the Willing meeting in Germany on 19 November.
What happened
The talks began at around 08:15 GMT and lasted about four and a half hours, Anadolu reported, citing media reports. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky led Russia’s delegation and Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, led Kyiv’s. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner brokered the session, and Kushner said he saw “some good ideas how to bridge” the gaps, Al Jazeera reported.
Zelenskyy said in a post on X that the sides discussed security guarantees in detail, including how to make them work over the long term, as well as de-escalation steps and humanitarian measures, with prisoner releases a “priority”. Talks resume in the same format on Wednesday, followed by wider meetings with US envoys and European representatives.
Speaking at the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris, Rubio said Russia agreeing to the format and turning up was “good”, and that Washington wants to “expand this trilateral” to bring European allies to the table directly.
Europe’s seat at the table
Zelenskyy told reporters in Denmark that European backers, including non-EU countries such as the UK and Norway, should agree quickly on one representative with a mandate from the whole coalition, Politico reported. Europe has been split on who should speak for it, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni last week called the EU’s approach “all over the place”. Leaders are due to take up the question at a summit in Dublin later this week.
What it means for markets
Rubio’s warning tempers hopes of a fast ceasefire. The hardest issue, territory, is likely to come last, after a post-war security framework is settled, a US official told reporters on Monday, according to Al Jazeera. Russia occupies roughly 20% of Ukraine, and Kyiv and Moscow remain far apart on the Donbas region. For investors in European defence, energy and Ukrainian reconstruction plays, that points to a long process rather than a single headline.
What to watch
- Wednesday’s second day of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi
- Whether Europe names a single negotiator before the end of November
- The Coalition of the Willing meeting in Germany on 19 November
- The Dublin summit later this week
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For information only. Not investment advice.
Sources
- Anadolu: US Secretary of State Rubio describes Abu Dhabi talks between US, Russia, Ukraine as ‘very productive’
- Anadolu: Zelenskyy calls trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi ‘constructive and substantive’
- Al Jazeera: First day of Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi ‘constructive’: Zelenskyy
- Politico: Zelenskyy tells Europe to hurry up and pick a rep for peace talks with Russia
- Bloomberg: First day of Ukraine-Russia talks “very productive,” top US diplomat says
