Moscow indicated today that it continues to demand that Kiev withdraw its forces from eastern Ukraine in order to resolve the conflict.
"The Ukrainian armed forces must leave Donbas, they must withdraw. This is a very important condition," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters ahead of talks in Abu Dhabi between Russian, Ukrainian and US officials.
He pointed out that without a solution to the territorial issue, it is pointless to hope for a long-term agreement.
Russia is demanding the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Donbas, an industrial and mining region in eastern Ukraine that includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Russian demands are particularly aimed at the Donetsk region, which it partially controls and which remains the epicenter of fighting that has claimed at least tens of thousands of lives since 2022, the website of the Parisian newspaper Le Monde reported.
Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who participated in last night's meeting between Steve Witkoff - US President's envoy and son-in-law of US President Jared Kushner - and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, said that it was "reaffirmed that reaching a long-term agreement cannot be expected without resolving the territorial issue."
Ushakov said that the first meeting of the trilateral working group on security issues will be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today.
The Russian delegation is led by the head of military intelligence, Admiral Igor Kostyukov.
According to Kiev, Ukraine is represented by the Secretary of the Security Council Rustem Umerov, his Chief of Staff Kirill Budanov, Deputy Chief of Staff Serhiy Kislitsa, the head of the president's party David Arahamiya, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, General Andriy Khnatov.
Ukrainian military: 101 Russian drones launched during the night and morning
The Ukrainian military announced that Russia launched 101 drones last night and this morning, 60 of which were Shahed.
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram that 76 drones were intercepted or diverted by jamming, adding that 19 drones evaded air defenses and hit 12 targets.
It is reported that drone attacks are continuing and that several of them are still in Ukrainian airspace.
On the other hand, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced today that it had intercepted 12 Ukrainian drones.
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