Talks resume in Abu Dhabi on Ukraine ceasefire plan

Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States are meeting in Abu Dhabi for a second day of negotiations on a plan being pushed by President Donald Trump to end the almost four-year-long war in Ukraine.

It comes as Ukraine's foreign minister accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "cynically" ordering "a brutal massive missile strike against Ukraine" overnight.

Ukraine's chief negotiator Rustem Umerov said the discussions focused "on the parameters for ending Russia's war and the further logic of the negotiation process".

An initial US draft drew heavy criticism in Ukraine and western Europe for siding too closely to Russia's line, while later iterations prompted pushback from Russia for floating the idea of European peacekeepers.

Both sides say the fate of territory in the eastern Donbas region is one of the main outstanding issues in the search for a settlement to a war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and decimated parts of Ukraine.

The UAE Foreign Ministry said in a statement the talks were scheduled to last two days and were "part of ongoing efforts to promote dialogue and identify political solutions to the crisis".

President Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday and US envoy Steve Witkoff later held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

The Emirates meeting began as thousands of people in Kyiv were without heating in sub-zero temperatures due to Russian strikes.

The European Union, which has sent hundreds of generators, accused Russia of "deliberately depriving civilians of heat".

Further Russian strikes killed one person and injured 22 others in Ukraine's capital and the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, authorities said.

"Kyiv is under a massive enemy attack," Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on Telegram, adding that several non-residential buildings had been hit.

He told residents to remain in shelters.

While diplomacy to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II has gained pace, Russia and Ukraine appear deadlocked over the issue of territory.

Hours after Mr Putin met Mr Witkoff, and Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, in Moscow, the Kremlin said its demand that Ukraine withdraw from the eastern Donbas region still stood.

"Russia's position is well known on the fact that Ukraine, Ukrainian armed forces, have to leave the territory of the Donbas," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

"This is a very important condition," he added.

Ukraine, which still controls around 20% of the eastern region, has rejected such terms.

Ahead of the talks yesterday, Mr Zelensky told reporters territory remained a "key issue" - with Russia having said it is not dropping its demand that Ukraine pull out of its eastern Donbas region.

In a post online, he later added: "It is necessary that not only Ukraine has the desire to end the war and achieve full security, but that a similar desire somehow emerges in Russia as well."

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are last known to have met face-to-face in Istanbul last summer, in talks that ended only in deals to exchange captured soldiers.

The Abu Dhabi meeting is the first time they have faced each other to talk about the Trump administration's plan.

Mr Putin has repeatedly said Moscow intends to get full control of eastern Ukraine by force if talks fail.

After the Russia-US talks in the Kremlin, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov insisted Moscow was "genuinely interested in resolving" the war diplomatically.

But he added: "Until that happens, Russia will continue to achieve its objectives ... on the battlefield."

Mr Trump has in the past pressured Ukraine to agree to terms that Kyiv sees as capitulation.

He repeated on Wednesday his belief that Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky were close to a deal.

"I believe they're at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they don't, they're stupid - that goes for both of them," he said.