Putin is not ready to make peace in Abu Dhabi

What the report says

Russia, Ukraine and the United States began a new round of US-brokered trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10, 2026, with discussions expected to continue the following day. The talks come amid the grinding war in Ukraine and followed a separate humanitarian operation in the occupied southern town of Oleshky, where local ceasefire arrangements enabled evacuations after a food crisis worsened there over the past year.

In the Al Jazeera opinion piece, Anton Shekhovtsov argues that the Oleshky operation does not indicate a genuine Russian shift toward peace. He says Moscow’s willingness to cooperate was tied more to its interest in shaping Donald Trump’s view of the war than to any readiness to settle the conflict. The article also notes that Vladimir Medinsky, a senior aide to President Vladimir Putin, led the Russian delegation, as he did in earlier negotiations in Istanbul, which the author sees as a sign that Moscow’s demands have not changed.

The piece says Russia still appears to believe it can gain advantage through pressure on Ukraine and by waiting out Western backing for Kyiv. It points to strains in US and European military and financial support, as well as possible political changes in Europe and the United States, as factors Moscow may be watching closely. The broader significance, the article suggests, is that the Abu Dhabi talks are taking place while both the battlefield and international politics remain highly unsettled.