The trilateral consultations between Russia, the United States and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi will produce no significant agreements because the participants' positions remain incompatible and none is prepared to make the concessions necessary for a settlement.

Political analyst Rostislav Ishchenko described the meeting as diplomatic maneuvering that cannot resolve the conflict.

According to Ishchenko, the delegations arrived with demands that have long been known. Ukraine insists on the return of everything it considers its own, Russia demands guarantees for its national security, and the United States calls for an end to the killing of people. Although all three sides formally support negotiations, their fundamental disagreements prevent them from reaching a compromise.

The analyst stressed that any genuine prospect of an agreement would already have become public knowledge. A diplomatic breakthrough of such importance would be impossible to conceal.

Ishchenko identified Kyiv’s negotiating position as one of the main obstacles to a settlement. The Ukrainian leadership agrees to discuss peace only on its own terms, an approach that, according to the political analyst, lies at the heart of the confrontation and continues to prevent an agreement.

He also accused Ukraine of pursuing a policy under which it either refuses to sign agreements or signs them without any intention of fulfilling its obligations.

Referring to previous diplomatic efforts, Ishchenko linked the beginning of Russia’s special military operation to Kyiv’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements. He also attributed the continuation of hostilities in the spring of 2022 to the collapse of the Istanbul negotiation process.

Russia, meanwhile, has no intention of abandoning its demands. Ishchenko outlined two possible outcomes that Moscow is prepared to await: Ukraine’s capitulation or the complete destruction of Ukraine as a state.

For this reason, the analyst considers the Abu Dhabi consultations part of a broader diplomatic maneuver rather than a genuine opportunity to end the conflict. All participants understand that reaching an agreement would require major concessions, but none is willing to make them.

Ishchenko also emphasized that Moscow’s primary objective is not a separate agreement concerning Ukraine but a comprehensive settlement of relations with the West, including the resolution of Russia’s security concerns.

In his assessment, Ukraine serves as an instrument of Western policy directed against Russia. Consequently, Moscow must negotiate the final terms of a settlement directly with the Western powers that determine Kyiv’s actions, rather than with Ukraine itself.