Zelensky says meeting with US, Russia 'constructive, quite substantive'

Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the first day of the two-day trilateral talks between Ukraine, the United States, and Russia in Abu Dhabi had been "constructive and quite substantive."

In a statement posted on X after speaking with Ukraine's negotiating team on Tuesday (local time), Zelensky said the discussions focused on humanitarian issues, including the release of prisoners, as well as security guarantees for Ukraine. The need for de-escalation measures was also discussed, he added.

Zelensky said he had given Ukraine's negotiating team clear instructions for further discussions on Wednesday, as well as for broader meetings in the coming days with US presidential envoys and European representatives, reports Xinhua news agency.

Earlier on Tuesday, delegations from Russia, the United States and Ukraine met in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for their first trilateral talks since February.

Ahead of the trilateral talks, the Ukrainian team met with representatives of Britain, France, Germany and Italy, as well as officials from NATO and the European Commission.

The meeting was also attended by US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Meanwhile, attacks continue across Russia and Ukraine. Five civilians, including a passenger on a bus, were killed in Ukrainian strikes in the Lugansk region over the past 24 hours, local leader Leonid Pasechnik said on Tuesday.

"It's been a difficult day for our republic: five people were killed, and four more were injured," Pasechnik said on social media platform Telegram.

Separately, three employees of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant have been killed in Ukrainian attacks over the past two weeks, Russian Foreign Ministry's Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told reporters the same day.

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