EU to join Abu Dhabi Ukraine talks, von der Leyen confirms after Zelensky call

Abu Dhabi talks and the EU role

Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, 9 November, that the EU will take part in the Abu Dhabi talks this week, alongside its partners. She made the announcement in a social media post after a phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky, in which she backed his call for a ceasefire covering energy and food infrastructure. The talks, scheduled for 10 and 11 November, will be mediated by the United States and bring together Ukrainian and Russian delegations. The US envoy Steve Witkoff listed among the goals an end to the war, security guarantees for the period after the conflict and measures to reduce military escalation. Von der Leyen also said she expects to meet Zelensky and other leaders in Dublin in the week of 9 November to discuss next steps toward peace.

Kremlin and capitals on the European role

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said the talks in Abu Dhabi in the coming days would be trilateral negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by the United States. He said the Americans, Europeans and Ukrainians have their own channels of contact and are likely building their own coordination mechanism. On 8 November, French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RTL that the European side would take part in the Ukraine talks, without saying who would represent France. Reuters reported on 9 November that the German government said Berlin would be represented at the level of its national security adviser. Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow appreciated the efforts of Donald Trump and his team, while claiming Kyiv and its European allies were preparing to continue the war rather than make peace.

Black Sea visit and maritime security

Von der Leyen began a visit to the Black Sea region on 9 November, and she plans to meet leaders in Romania and Bulgaria. She said there she would discuss the situation on the ground and how Europe can strengthen its response. In her statement she said security threats in the Black Sea were intensifying, attacks were increasing and innocent lives had been lost. She called for freedom of navigation in the Black Sea to be restored and preserved. The Black Sea matters to European security because of its links between Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and because of its role in trade, energy transport and farm exports.

Ukraine's financing gap

Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU commissioner for the economy, said in Brussels on the sidelines of the Eurogroup that Ukraine's financing gap was wider than expected, at about 70 billion euros. The EU aims to cover about two-thirds of that, or 45 billion euros, in addition to funding already planned. Dombrovskis said the options are still being defined and will be presented to member states later. He said he was confident the 45 billion euros would be found.

Disputed casualty figures

The Belarusian hacking group Cyberpartisans, which opposes Alexander Lukashenko, claims to have identified 393,881 deaths linked to fighting on the Russian front between 2022 and 27 August 2026. It says the figure comes from data taken from Rosstat, Russia's statistics agency, and no independent source has confirmed it. The group said on 1 November that it carried out an attack with Silent Crow, a pro-Ukrainian hacking group, which obtained more than ten terabytes of data. Silent Crow gives a broader total of 450,100 deaths, including 14,160 soldiers who died outside combat and deaths with no stated cause in Ukraine or occupied territories. Neither figure includes the wounded or missing, and neither can be equated solely with Russian soldiers killed in combat. Rosstat denies that any leak took place. Reuters reported that the two groups had previously claimed an attack on Aeroflot in July 2025 that caused dozens of flight cancellations.