Bombay Durpun - Ukraine-Russia-US talks open in Abu Dhabi as Moscow demands Donbas region

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said territory remained the key issue and would be on the agenda for the talks.

They are the first direct public negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv on a plan being pushed by the US President Donald Trump to end the almost four-year-long war.

"The talks commenced today in Abu Dhabi and are scheduled to continue over two days, as part of ongoing efforts to promote dialogue and identify political solutions to the crisis," the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement.

High-level teams from the three countries gathered for the negotiations a day after Trump met with Zelensky in Davos -- and hours after US envoy Steve Witkoff held late-night talks with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

The Emirates meeting will take place as thousands of people in Kyiv were without heating in sub-zero temperatures due to Russian strikes.

The EU, which has sent hundreds of generators to the war-torn country, has accused Moscow of "deliberately depriving civilians of heat".

- More deadly strikes -

Before the talks began, Kyiv said Russian strikes had killed three people Friday in the Kharkiv region and four people -- including a father and his five-year-old son -- overnight in the east.

While diplomacy to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II has gained pace, Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds, in what looks like a deadlock, over the issue of territory.

Hours after Putin met Witkoff -- and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner -- in Moscow, the Kremlin said its maximalist demand that Kyiv withdraw from the eastern Donbas region still stands.

"Russia's position is well known on the fact that Ukraine, Ukrainian armed forces, have to leave the territory of the Donbas," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"This is a very important condition," he added.

Kyiv, which still controls around 20 percent of the eastern region, has deemed such terms unacceptable.

Germany, a Ukraine ally, said it still had "major questions" over whether Moscow was willing to compromise.

- 'God willing' -

Both sides say the fate of territory in Ukraine's east is one of the main outstanding issues in the search for a settlement to a war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and decimated eastern Ukraine.

"The Donbas is a key issue," Zelensky -- who said he and Trump had agreed on post-war security guarantees in Davos -- told reporters on Friday, ahead of the talks.

"God willing (the talks will lead) to ending the war," he added, before cautioning: "It could go differently, but it's a step."

After speaking to the head of his delegation Rustem Umerov, Zelensky said the exact formats of the meetings was yet to be set.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are last known to have met face-to-face in Istanbul last summer, in talks that ended only in deals to exchange captured soldiers.

The Abu Dhabi meeting is the first time they face each other to talk about the Trump administration's plan.

Along with security chief Umerov, Kyiv's team also includes Zelensky's new chief-of-staff Kyrylo Budanov, negotiator David Arakhamia and ground army chief Andriy Gnatov.

Moscow is sending General Igor Kostyukov -- director of its GRU military intelligence agency -- as part of an all-military delegation.

The Kremlin also said its economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev would be there to hold separate Russia-US talks with Witkoff, who is leading the American side, and Kushner.

- 'Depends on Americans' -

Putin has repeatedly said Moscow intends to get full control of eastern Ukraine by force if talks fail.

After the Russia-US talks in the Kremlin, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov insisted Moscow was "genuinely interested in resolving" the war diplomatically.

But he added: "Until that happens, Russia will continue to achieve its objectives... on the battlefield."

A source familiar with the planned talks told AFP the role of the United States would be crucial to how they play out.

"A lot will depend on the position of the Americans," they said.

Trump repeated on Wednesday his belief that Putin and Zelensky were close to a deal.

"I believe they're at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they don't, they're stupid -- that goes for both of them," he said.

C.F.Salvi--BD