Wanner questions Russian delegation's clout before Abu Dhabi talks

The Kyiv correspondent sees limited Kremlin commitment to the planned negotiations, while reporting local Ukrainian gains without a strategic breakthrough.

Channel: WELT Nachrichtensender ·

GermanyStory of November 9, 2026Trari Newsroom

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0:00The report says Zelenskyy has announced further SBU dismissals following corruption allegations involving security officials.
0:54Wanner says heavy fighting has brought little overall change to the front line.
1:40Wanner disputes full Russian control of Dobropillia and describes fighting near Velyka Novosilka and Orikhiv.
3:00Wanner reports Russian energy-infrastructure attacks and Ukrainian strikes on refineries and weapons production inside Russia.
3:35Working-level Abu Dhabi talks are planned for Tuesday; Wanner questions delegation leader Medinsky's influence in the Kremlin.

Russia's choice of negotiators offers little reason to expect a major diplomatic breakthrough in Abu Dhabi, correspondent Christoph Wanner argues in a report for Germany's WELT Nachrichtensender.

Speaking from Kyiv, Wanner says the working-level talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States are scheduled to begin on Tuesday. Russia's delegation is to be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a former culture minister and presidential aide whom Wanner describes as having limited political weight inside the Kremlin. He interprets that choice as a sign of President Vladimir Putin's limited interest in the talks.

The report also names Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov as members of the Russian delegation. Wanner's assessment concerns their scope to deliver political decisions, not an announced outcome from negotiations that have yet to begin.

On the battlefield, his central distinction is between local gains and a change in the wider front. Ukrainian advances around Lyman, north of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine, have slowed Russia's attack toward Sloviansk, he says, but have not triggered a substantial Russian withdrawal. Despite intense fighting, he describes the front line as largely unchanged.

Wanner also disputes Putin's assertion that Russian forces have captured Dobropillia in the Donetsk region. Russian troops are inside the city, he says, but do not control all of it. He reports Ukrainian attacks toward Velyka Novosilka and continued resistance to Russian assaults near Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Beyond the front, Wanner reports Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and Ukrainian strikes against refineries and weapons-production facilities inside Russia.

The broadcast opens with a separate domestic challenge for Ukraine: corruption allegations involving its internal security service, the SBU. The report says senior security and justice officials have been charged with protecting a criminal network, and that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced further dismissals.