Europe joins Abu Dhabi talks as Russia fires 317 drones overnight
US-brokered Russia–Ukraine talks open in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday with European envoys present for the first time, after France’s Jean-Noël Barrot said “France will be there and will ensure that Europe’s voice is heard” and the Kremlin’s Yuri Ushakov retorted: “No one is going to invite them to the negotiating table.” Overnight Russia launched 317 drones, including 105 jet-powered, at four substations; more than 600,000 people in Dnipropetrovsk lost power at the weekend.
This is the fourth American-brokered round and the first since Geneva in February. Rustem Umerov says Ukraine’s team “will meet separately with European envoys”, and Dmitry Peskov, while insisting “this is a matter of trilateral negotiations”, conceded that “at some stage it would be impossible to do it without the Europeans”. Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff consulted Kyiv, the EU, Nato and the main European capitals beforehand; Mr Kushner hopes the talks “will identify areas of common ground”, and Sergei Lavrov says “collective security” tops Moscow’s agenda. Donald Trump told 60 Minutes a deal was “very close” and that Ukraine would “end up with a little bit different shape” — which is why Volodymyr Zelensky calls the format “not simple” and potentially “dangerous”, invoking Yalta. The energy war has not paused: 250,000 customers in Kharkiv region and 140 apartment blocks in Zhytomyr were cut off, an Odesa warehouse strike killed three, Ukraine hit the KINEF refinery near St Petersburg, and Moscow’s defence ministry promised to “continue to carry out strikes” on fuel and power. Watch whether the Europeans get into the room or only the corridor.