Kallas: Russia's delegation in Abu Dhabi shows it is not serious

Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has criticised Russia for not taking the peace talks in Abu Dhabi seriously, noting that the Russian delegation is mainly composed of military personnel without a mandate to make any decisions.

"Well, again, if we look at these talks [in Abu Dhabi], and who is representing Russia is the military personnel who do not have any mandate to agree on the peace as such. So clearly Russians are not serious about this," Kallas said ahead of a EU Council of Foreign Affairs meeting.

Kallas added that the Russians "are bombing Ukrainians, trying to bomb and freeze them to surrender" amid the talks.

"That's why we are also discussing the energy support that we can give them. Because it's a very hard winter and the Ukrainians are really suffering, there's a humanitarian catastrophe coming there," she said, emphasising again that Russia is "just pretending" to negotiate peace.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said another round of talks between Ukraine, the US and Russia is planned for Sunday 1 February.

Potential ways to end the war were discussed during the trilateral Abu Dhabi talks on 23-24 January.

Topics included territorial issues, with Ukraine insisting negotiations focus on the current line of contact, while Russia continues to demand the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the non-occupied part of Donetsk Oblast.

Also see an interview with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Peace talks, Ukraine's EU and NATO ambitions, and more.