Ukraine Foreign Minister Slams Putin After 'Brutal' Strikes Hit Negotiating Table

As diplomats gathered in air-conditioned rooms to talk about ending the war, Ukrainians woke to fire and freezing darkness. While officials from Ukraine, Russia and the US met in Abu Dhabi for a rare three-way push towards peace, Russian missiles were pounding Kyiv and Kharkiv, killing one person and injuring 35 others overnight – a bloody backdrop that Ukraine's foreign minister says has shattered trust at the negotiating table.

Andrii Sybiha condemned the latest barrage as a 'brutal' attack 'cynically' ordered by Vladimir Putin, saying it had 'hit not only our people, but also the negotiation table'. For Kyiv, the timing of the strikes was not just another act of aggression, but a direct blow to already fragile talks.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Accuses Putin Of Targeting Peace Itself

The Abu Dhabi meetings mark the first trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Hosted by the United Arab Emirates, the discussions are being billed as a tentative step towards a political settlement. A source told the BBC that some progress had been made, but the central question of territory remains unresolved.

On the ground in Ukraine, there is little sense of compromise. In the capital, mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person had died and four had been wounded in the strikes. He reported that critical infrastructure had been hit, leaving 6,000 buildings without heating in the middle of a bitter cold snap. Temperatures have fallen to around -12C in parts of the country, forcing families to huddle in dark flats and underground shelters as repair crews race to restore power.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said: 'The main target of the Russians was the energy infrastructure.' It is not the first time Kyiv's power network has been deliberately targeted. Only last week, a separate assault on the city's energy system was severe enough that Zelensky initially called off his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, was also hit hard. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 31 people had been injured during strikes in the early hours of Saturday. A maternity hospital and a hostel for displaced people were among the buildings damaged, driving home the human cost of bombardments that land far from any frontline trench.

On the second day of talks in Abu Dhabi, Sybiha sharpened his language further. He said the 'barbaric' overnight assault proved 'that Putin's place is not at the board of peace, but at the dock of the special tribunal'.

His comments were a direct swipe at US President Donald Trump, who said last week that Putin had accepted an invitation to join his Board of Peace – an organisation focused on ending global conflicts. Putin has not confirmed this, and in Kyiv the idea of him sitting on any 'board of peace' is being openly mocked as missiles fall.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Holds Firm As Land Demands Threaten Deal

Behind the scenes, the same question keeps resurfacing: land. Russia currently occupies roughly 20% of Ukraine, including chunks of the eastern Donbas region. The Kremlin wants Ukraine to hand over large areas of that territory as part of any settlement, but Kyiv has ruled this out.

In Davos, Zelensky put it bluntly: 'It's all about the land. This is the issue which is not solved yet.' He also said he had reached an agreement with Trump on future US security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a deal. He gave no detail, beyond noting that any arrangement would need to go before US Congress and the Ukrainian parliament before signing.

The diplomatic choreography has been intense. The day before the Abu Dhabi talks began, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner met Putin in Moscow. After the four-hour meeting, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said: 'Vladimir Putin has emphasised Russia's sincere commitment to settling the Ukraine crisis by political and diplomatic means.' However, he warned that 'bringing about a lasting settlement would be unlikely without addressing the territorial issue based on the formula as agreed in Anchorage'.

Last August, Trump and Putin met in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss ending the war. That encounter produced an outline agreement to allow Russia to take the Donbas region and keep control of the Crimean peninsula, which it allegally annexed in 2014. Zelensky has categorically ruled out giving up Donbas – made up of Luhansk and Donetsk – which has been partly occupied by Russia for 12 years.

After the first day of talks in Abu Dhabi, Rustem Umerov, who is leading the Ukrainian delegation, struck a measured tone. 'The meeting focused on the parameters for ending Russia's war and the further logic of the negotiation process aimed at advancing toward a dignified and lasting peace,' he wrote on social media.

For now, though, every missile strike makes that 'dignified and lasting peace' feel more distant. As Ukraine's foreign minister sees it, the message from Moscow is clear: Putin is still trying to win on the battlefield what he cannot yet secure at the conference table.