Russia, Ukraine and the US are holding peace talks in Abu Dhabi. They're coming at a key moment

Ukrainian, Russian and U.S. envoys met in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, the first known instance that officials from the Trump administration have sat down with both countries as part of Washington's push for progress to end Moscow’s nearly 4-year-old invasion.

The talks follow a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent days, from Switzerland to the Kremlin, even though serious obstacles remain between both sides.

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday that a potential peace deal was “nearly ready,” certain sensitive sticking points — most notably those related to territorial issues — remain unresolved.

Here’s what's known and not known about the meeting:

They are taking place in the UAE's capital of Abu Dhabi. Representatives from Russia and Ukraine have already met several times on separate occasions, but this is believed to be the first time U.S. envoys will be there too — a significant step in that President Donald Trump has been pressing for a halt to the war.

The talks are an outgrowth of recent diplomatic activity, even though Russia has kept up its attacks on Ukraine and its energy infrastructure, leaving parts of the country without power amid a bitterly cold winter.

Zelenskyy met with Trump on Thursday behind closed doors for about an hour at the World Economic Forum in Davos, describing it as a “productive and meaningful” session. Trump said later that it had gone well and that both Russia and Ukraine were “making concessions” to try to end the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in overnight talks at the Kremlin that lasted nearly four hours.

A spokesman for Zelenskyy said there are “many different formats in these talks — sometimes participants step aside for separate discussions, sometimes everyone meets together, sometimes several groups break off by topic."

The U.S. has confirmed Witkoff and Kushner are attending. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll also is part of the team, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic process. NATO’s top general, U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich also is attending.

The Ukrainian team includes Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s national security and defense council; Andrii Hnatov, chief of the general staff; and Kyrylo Budanov, head of the presidential office.

Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said Russia's delegation is led by the chief of military intelligence, Adm. Igor Kostyukov. The Kremlin later said the rest of the delegation are from the Defense Ministry as well, but did not elaborate. Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev also is attending.

The talks are scheduled to conclude Saturday.

Little is known about the specific issues to be discussed. Zelenskyy said the fraught issue of territorial concessions is a likely topic, while the Kremlin offered few details beyond calling the meeting a “working group on security issues.” Separate economic discussions will take place between Witkoff and Dmitriev, Kremlin officials said.

The sides have indicated that a possible peace deal hinges on the apparently still unresolved issue of territory. Speaking in a WhatsApp chat with journalists Friday, Zelenskyy described the issue of who would control the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine as “key.”

Russia’s bigger army has managed to capture about 20% of Ukraine since hostilities began in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of 2022. But the battlefield gains along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line have been costly for Moscow, and the Russian economy is feeling the consequences of the war and international sanctions.

In his briefing on Putin’s meeting with Witkoff and Kushner, Ushakov stressed that "reaching a long-term settlement can’t be expected without solving the territorial issue,” a reference to Moscow’s demand that Kyiv withdraw its troops from areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed in 2022 but never fully captured.

Peskov also said Friday that Moscow had already made its position clear and that Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the Donbas region.

Ukraine has been pressing for security guarantees from the West to prevent Russia from invading its territory again.

Kamila Hrabchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to the media at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, Russia, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (Grigory Sysoyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, left, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, second left, Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, second right, and Trump's envoy Jared Kushner talk to each other prior to their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to the media at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man was put to death Wednesday evening for fatally stabbing his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in 2013, apologizing profusely to her older son who survived with multiple stab wounds and witnessed the execution.

Cedric Ricks, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. CDT following a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

He was condemned for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Bedford. Sanchez’s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, was stabbed 25 times and feigned death in order to survive.

Ricks apologized repeatedly to seven relatives of his victims who looked on, particularly Marcus Figueroa. The attack survivor showed no emotion, watching through a glass window just steps from where Ricks was strapped to a gurney. On the back of Marcus Figueroa’s neck, visible above his shirt collar and below his hair, were several scars apparently from the attack.

“I want to say that I’m sorry for taking Roxann and Anthony from y’all,” Ricks said when asked by the warden if he had a final statement. “I’m glad to be able to speak to tell y'all that face to face.”

He said he hoped one day that his victims’ relatives would be able to find it in their hearts to forgive him. He also addressed Marcus Figueroa, saying he hated that he took his mother and brother away.

“I always thought about you and I’m sorry that I took your mom and your brother away. I hate that you had to experience that, I just can’t imagine, but I’m truly sorry for what I’ve done, and I wish y’all peace and joy as much as you can but I’m sorry, that’s all I can say," Ricks said. His voice cracking and tear forming in his eye, he added that he hoped to find the woman and her son in heaven and “tell them I'm sorry face to face.”

“I hope y’all go in peace. I really do. I’m sorry," he concluded before the injection began.

As the drug took effect, he took 19 quick breaths, then made 10 snoring sounds, followed seconds later by some intermittent gurgles. Then all movement and sounds stopped, and he was pronounced dead 30 minutes after the injection had begun.

Among the other witnesses were Roxann Sanchez’s stepfather and brother, and Anthony Figueroa’s father, brother and grandmother. None of them showed any emotion in the death chamber witness area and declined to speak with reporters afterward.

The night of the killings, prosecutors said, Ricks and Sanchez had been arguing in their apartment when the woman's two sons from a previous marriage tried to break up the fight. Ricks grabbed a knife from the kitchen and began to stab Sanchez multiple times, court records showed.

Marcus Figueroa ran to his bedroom closet and tried to call police. After killing Anthony Figueroa, Ricks began stabbing Marcus Figueroa, who played dead until his attacker left the apartment, authorities said. Ricks did not harm his own then-9-month-old son Isaiah, according to court records. Ricks fled and was later arrested in Oklahoma.

At his ensuing capital murder trial, Ricks testified that he had anger issues and had been defending himself against the two boys after they had come to their mother’s defense.

“Explaining my rage, I was upset. Things happen. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I wish I could bring them back, like, right now,” said Ricks, who also apologized at the time for the killings.

A day before the stabbings, Ricks had appeared in court after having been charged with assaulting Sanchez during a previous incident.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Ricks' final appeal without comment. His attorneys had argued that prosecutors violated Ricks’ constitutional rights by eliminating potential jurors on the basis of race while selecting the trial panel.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office said court records show the prosecution’s jury selection decisions were “race neutral” and lower courts have already concluded that prosecutors’ actions were not discriminatory.

And earlier this week, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Ricks’ request to commute his death sentence or grant a 90-day reprieve.

Ricks was the second person put to death this year in Texas and the sixth in the country. Texas has historically held more executions than any other state.

Charles “Sonny” Burton, a 75-year-old inmate in Alabama, had been scheduled for execution Thursday. But Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday commuted his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Burton had been condemned for a fatal shooting during a 1991 robbery at an auto parts store even though he didn’t pull the trigger.

Lozano reported from Houston. Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Texas death row inmate Cedric Ricks. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Texas death row inmate Cedric Ricks. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)