Ukraine–Russia–US trilateral talks to continue in 'coming weeks', says Kyiv

Ukraine-Russia-US talks set to continue (AFP)

Trilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by the United States, will continue in the coming weeks, Kyiv's lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said on Thursday after the latest round of talks in Abu Dhabi.

"The delegations agreed to inform their capitals and continue trilateral talks in the coming weeks. They expressed their gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for hosting the talks," Umerov said on social media.

"Ukraine is grateful to President Donald Trump for his leadership in promoting efforts to end the war," he added.

The main sticking point in the negotiations is the long-term fate of territory in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow is demanding that Kyiv pull its troops out of swathes of the Donbas, including heavily fortified cities atop vast natural resources, before any deal.

It also wants international recognition that land seized in the invasion belongs to Russia.

Kyiv has said the conflict should be frozen along the current front line and has rejected a pull-back of forces.

Zelensky said the role of the US president was crucial, telling French television in an interview broadcast Wednesday: "Putin is only scared of Trump."

In a rare official admission of battlefield losses, Zelensky said Wednesday that at least 55,000 of his country's troops had been killed since Russia invaded in February 2022 -- a figure lower than many independent estimates.

Russia has not disclosed how many of its soldiers have been killed. Tracking of obituaries and family announcements by the BBC and independent outlet Mediazona has found the names of more than 160,000 Russian soldiers killed in the conflict.

Russia occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine. It claims the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as its own, and holds pockets of territory in at least three other Ukrainian regions in the east.

Kyiv still controls around one-fifth of the Donetsk region that Moscow demands it withdraw from. Ukraine has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow, and that it will not sign a deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.