Zelensky said he had received the second report from Ukraine's negotiating team following the meetings in Abu Dhabi. The Russian representatives, among them military officers and intelligence personnel, spoke seriously about controlling territories that Ukraine holds.
"We do not understand how you can say such things at all. We have video recordings, photographs and other evidence that these territories are under our control," Zelensky relayed the Ukrainian team's response, according to Meduza and Deutsche Welle.
US Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, supreme allied commander of NATO's forces in Europe, who attended the meeting, confirmed that the Ukrainian battlefield map was closer to reality, Deutsche Welle reported.
Zelensky said Vladimir Putin "lives in a different reality." The Ukrainian president added that Putin would tell the Americans he needs one or two months to fully occupy eastern Ukraine.
"I can also draw him a picture on which I fully occupy Russia. But that is not true," Meduza quoted Zelensky as saying.
The Russian delegation is led by Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin aide and head of the Russian Military Historical Society; the Ukrainian side by Rustem Umerov, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service. After the first day, Zelensky called the three-way format constructive and fairly substantive.
After two days of talks, US presidential envoy Jared Kushner, who represented the country alongside Steve Witkoff, said the territorial question had proved the most difficult. Medinsky said after the second day, on November 11, to Interfax: "As for territorial questions, every inch of our lands will be returned to Russia. One way or another."
Russia and Ukraine did manage to agree the largest humanitarian prisoner exchange, Kushner said. According to Zelensky, a formula of "1,000 for 1,000" or "1,500 for 1,500" is being discussed. Significant progress was also reported on security guarantees for Ukraine.
Meetings with Putin and Zelensky are announced for November 12, to be held in Moscow and Dublin respectively. In Abu Dhabi, Zelensky said, the talks on November 11 cover de-escalation, strikes on energy facilities, the situation in the Black Sea and the possibility of a three-way summit.