The United States and Russia have agreed to reestablish high-level military-to-military communication following meetings between senior American, Russian and Ukrainian officials in Abu Dhabi, the US European Command said on Thursday.
The decision came after talks involving Gen Alexus Grynkewich, commander of US European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, alongside senior Russian and Ukrainian military officials. According to the statement, the renewed channel is intended to ensure consistent military contact as efforts continue toward a lasting peace.
Formal high-level military communication between Washington and Moscow had been suspended in 2021, shortly before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Grynkewich was in the United Arab Emirates as US-brokered discussions aimed at ending the war entered a second day. The talks took place amid intensified Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and continued fighting along the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line across eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that about 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the invasion began nearly four years ago, adding that a large number of people are still considered missing. The last time he disclosed casualty figures, in early 2025, he said 46,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed.
On Thursday, delegations from Moscow and Kyiv were joined in Abu Dhabi by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, according to Rustem Umerov, chief of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. The same figures also attended talks there last month as the Trump administration seeks to guide both sides toward a settlement. Zelenskyy has previously described the future control of the Donbas industrial region as a key issue in any peace deal.
Officials offered no details on concrete progress from the latest round of discussions.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly stressed that Ukraine needs firm security guarantees from the United States and Europe to prevent future Russian aggression. He said Ukrainians must see genuine movement toward peace, not a situation where Russia exploits talks while continuing its attacks.
The humanitarian toll continues to mount. Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday that civilian casualties in Ukraine rose by 31 percent last year compared with 2024. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said nearly 15,000 civilians have been killed and more than 40,000 injured since the war began, up to last December.
Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for an official visit. In the capital, two people were injured in overnight Russian drone strikes, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Authorities in the surrounding Kyiv region reported that a man sustained a chest wound from shrapnel.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 183 drones and two ballistic missiles overnight. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 95 Ukrainian drones over several regions, the Azov Sea and Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.