US mediated talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi have ended with an agreement in principle on a major prisoner exchange, but without progress on a ceasefire or the territorial disputes at the heart of the war, according to the Euro News.
US envoy Jared Kushner announced that both sides would carry out the “biggest humanitarian release of prisoners,” with the final number to be confirmed on Thursday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had earlier said negotiators were discussing an exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side, potentially rising to 1,500 each.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed the planned exchange but gave no details on its timing or scale. It is the most concrete result of the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow in nine months.
Kushner said the United States was still working to arrange a meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We are pushing a boulder uphill,” he told Euronews. He said Russia wanted more progress before such a meeting, adding that there was little trust between the two leaders. Still, he argued that only the leaders could make the final decisions needed to end the war.
Kushner and fellow US envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet Putin before travelling to Dublin for talks with Zelenskyy. Kushner said US officials were in daily contact with both sides.
Ukrainian negotiator Davyd Arakhamia described the Abu Dhabi discussions as among the most difficult so far. He said Russian delegates appeared to have arrived with strict instructions from Moscow, but credited the US team with helping move the talks forward by focusing on the post-war future of both countries.
“We have made really significant progress,” Arakhamia said, calling for another round of negotiations as soon as possible and expressing hope that a solution could be reached before the new year.
Russia continues to demand that Ukraine withdraw from territory in the eastern Donbas region still under Kyiv’s control. Zelenskyy insists that territorial questions must be decided at the leaders’ level. Moscow has also rejected an immediate ceasefire, arguing that wider security arrangements must come first.
European officials attended separate consultations in Abu Dhabi but did not join the main negotiations. Washington said European countries should eventually take part, particularly as discussions move towards Europe’s future security arrangements.
