Marco Rubio says trilateral negotiations seek a lasting settlement, but that an immediate breakthrough remains unlikely.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described Tuesday’s trilateral negotiations between the US, Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi as "very productive", saying diplomatic efforts aim to establish durable security arrangements.
"There's a lot of work behind in that regard. It's not like something that's on the verge of being solved in the next 24 hours or anything like that," Rubio told reporters on Tuesday at a G7 ministerial meeting in France.
Rubio welcomed Russia's participation in the trilateral format, describing Moscow's decision to send representatives as "good".
He also pointed out that European Union countries were represented in Abu Dhabi alongside US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, addressing concerns that European allies were being sidelined.
Washington ultimately aims to expand the trilateral format to include European allies directly in the negotiations, he added.
Abu Dhabi talks
The first day of the US-mediated negotiations lasted about four and a half hours, according to Russian media reports. The delegations took a 40-minute break roughly two hours after talks began before resuming discussions.
The negotiations began at around 0815 GMT, with Russian presidential envoy Vladimir Medinsky leading Moscow's delegation and Rustem Umerov heading the Ukrainian team.
Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform, citing the press service of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, reported that negotiations would resume on Wednesday morning.
The Russian, Ukrainian and US delegations have yet to comment publicly on the first day's discussions.
The latest round marks the first trilateral negotiations since talks in Geneva in February, following two earlier rounds hosted by Abu Dhabi in January and February.
TRT World / Anadolu Agency — TRT World / Anadolu Agency
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