Updated

Kyiv Post reported that Russia has again demanded Ukraine stay out of all military alliances, including European ones, while saying it would accept Ukraine's EU membership. Citing sources it attributed to the Ukrainian outlet Gordon, Kyiv Post said Russian delegation head Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide, made the demand during closed-door trilateral talks with Ukraine and the US in Abu Dhabi, on the second day of negotiations. Medinsky reportedly complained about NATO's eastward expansion, claiming Western countries had promised not to expand the alliance after the Soviet collapse, and said Russia no longer trusts such promises. The position echoes earlier Moscow demands for Ukrainian neutrality. Kyiv Post noted that in February 2025 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accepted Ukraine's sovereign right to join the EU while insisting on a different position on military alliances. In June 2025 Russia presented a memorandum in Istanbul demanding neutrality, a ban on military alliances, limits on Ukraine's armed forces and weapons, and withdrawal from four partially occupied regions as a condition for a ceasefire. After the Abu Dhabi talks, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were reportedly expected to meet Putin in Moscow before briefing the Ukrainian delegation in Dublin.