(The Soufan Center) Last week, Russia and Ukraine held peace talks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), however, the meeting produced little beyond a reciprocal exchange of 157 prisoners of war. Kyiv has long stressed that it will only come to the negotiating table if it can be given security guarantees, while Moscow has stated it would only consider such arrangements if Ukraine relinquished all of the Donbas. The Trump administration has expressed frustration with the persistent lack of movement in negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, while Kyiv has tried to demonstrate that Russia’s negotiating posture follows a “give an inch, take a mile” playbook — except it rarely gives even an inch. Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether Moscow and Kyiv can ever reach a durable diplomatic settlement, or whether the war will simply grind on, despite the looming 2026 peace-deal deadline Trump imposed.
Maximalist Demands Stall Path to Peace for Russia and Ukraine – The Soufan Center
