A lasting Ukraine settlement needs Western Europe. Bringing it into negotiations too soon, however, could derail fragile progress.
Two days of negotiations in Abu Dhabi have ended without a breakthrough. This was predictable because the Ukraine conflict is too complex, and too many interested parties still believe they can improve their positions at somebody else’s expense, but the absence of a dramatic announcement shouldn’t be mistaken for the absence of progress.
The delegations were experienced, the discussions lengthy, and judging by the accounts, substantive, so this wasn’t another diplomatic performance designed merely to buy time or lull the opponent into complacency. For once, the parties appear to have discussed the issues that might eventually make peace possible.
An agreement on a prisoner exchange is the most visible result. These exchanges aren’t unprecedented, but they demonstrate a willingness to keep channels open, while US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have since traveled to Moscow to brief President Vladimir Putin, before continuing consultations with the Ukrainian leadership in Ireland. However, for now, decisive political commitments remain beyond the authority of the negotiators.
The delegations can assess battlefield developments, the state of the opposing economies, and the costs of continuing the war, but they can’t resolve the most difficult questions without instructions from their leaders, which means Abu Dhabi was an important stage in the process, not the conclusion.
Still, there is a sense of approaching a crossroads. Either the parties find some basis for reducing tensions, or the fighting enters another period of escalation, which may actually depend on actors who were not seated at the trilateral negotiating table: the Europeans.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: rt.com
