Delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States opened a trilateral round of negotiations on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, in Abu Dhabi, the first in nine months, according to Aristegui Noticias. The closed-door meeting centers on security guarantees for the end of the conflict, hours after a new wave of Russian attacks against Ukraine's power grid.
The previous night, The Guardian reported that Russia attacked ten Ukrainian regions and hit five inter-regional transmission substations in Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia and Kirovohrad, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi. The Kyiv Independent's tally cited in that coverage records at least nine people killed and 39 wounded in the past day. Both sources trace the same pattern: the diplomatic table advances while military pressure concentrates on energy infrastructure. For Mexico the channel is indirect and concrete at once, because it sources part of its grain and fuel consumption in international markets that move with every signal about the end of hostilities.
The delegations arrived with defined names and ranks. Russia sent Vladimir Medinsky, presidential adviser and chief negotiator, along with deputy ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin. Ukraine came with Rustem Umerov, head of its foreign intelligence service, and Kyrylo Budanov, head of Volodymyr Zelensky's Cabinet. For the United States, mediators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner joined, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow seeks "to achieve an honest balance of interests that does not affect anyone's security," and Umerov stated that the parties aligned positions and coordinated steps ahead of the next round.
The format has already met twice in 2025, including a round in Istanbul in January, and on those occasions commitments were limited to prisoner exchanges and the handover of bodies, according to Aristegui Noticias. The next meeting, preceded by consultations with national security advisers from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, NATO and the European Commission, will gauge whether the format moves toward concrete commitments.
This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.