Abu Dhabi Talks Loom as Moscow Pushes Donbas Exit and Frozen Assets
Putin agreed to trilateral US-Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi on Jan 23–24, with Kostyukov leading Russia’s delegation and Zelensky’s team including Umerov, Budanov, and others. Moscow pressed the Anchorage formula demanding Donbas withdrawal and NATO rollbacks, and floated using frozen U.S. assets for reconstruction, while also managing a Chechen succession plan to preempt instability. Separately, Ukraine expanded drone capabilities (Sternenko appointed to scale drone use) as fighting persists with no decisive Russian breakthroughs across multiple fronts; ISW notes Russia is leveraging summit ambiguity to push broader security demands beyond eastern Ukraine.}{