Ukraine tabled specific proposals for a Black Sea and energy infrastructure truce at the US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on November 10. Kyiv also demanded security guarantees and a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Vladimir Putin, which Sybiha said "could really speed up the end of the war." A partial truce is Kyiv’s way round a deadlock over sequence: Ukraine wants the fighting to stop first and the settlement to follow; Moscow says security guarantees must be agreed before a settlement. Halting strikes at sea and on power plants would protect the two things each economy leans on most: Ukraine’s grain and metals exports through the Odesa ports and its battered grid, and Russia’s refineries, oil terminals and ports, which Ukrainian drones have been hitting for months. An energy truce headed Kyiv’s list going into the talks, along with safe Black Sea shipping and a prisoner exchange.
Moscow closes the door on general ceasefire
Sergei Lavrov told reporters on November 10 that Russia would not accept Europe’s proposal for an immediate end to the conflict. "But to go for another truce, another ceasefire – we will not agree to that, this has been said many times," he said, arguing that such calls are meant to buy Kyiv time to make good its battlefield losses. Earlier attempts at partial truces have come to little: Zelenskiy accused Russia of carrying on its strikes on Ukrainian power and gas facilities after US President Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire in October, and an effort by Egypt, India, Turkey and other countries to broker a Black Sea truce in September produced no agreement. The second and final day of talks ended on November 11 with one concrete result: Russia and Ukraine agreed in principle on a large-scale prisoner exchange, and "the specific terms will be announced in the near future," said Vladimir Medinsky, the Kremlin aide who heads Moscow’s delegation. Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin of the Russian General Staff, who took part in the talks, said the swap could take place in the next two to three weeks once its procedure had been agreed. On European security the sides "found common ground" in some areas but not in others, Medinsky said, adding that the discussion would continue. He told Vesti he thought the parties had moved closer to peace, but that "a lot depends on Ukraine, the position of the United States, and whether Europe comes to its senses." The truce offer now goes to Putin by way of the US mediators. US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are due in Moscow on November 12 to meet Putin and try to make progress on the issues raised in Abu Dhabi, Kushner said, and plan to travel on to Dublin to meet Zelenskiy, TASS reported. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the meeting with Putin would take place soon. Witkoff last met Putin on October 21 in St Petersburg.
