Agreement Reached on Major Prisoner Exchange After Abu Dhabi Talks, With No Breakthrough on Ending War
Key Facts
Russia and Ukraine agreed to a major exchange of prisoners of war after two days of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi, but the meetings ended without a major breakthrough toward ending the war, the Associated Press reported. The Russian envoy described the agreement as preliminary, while Jared Kushner said the sides would determine the number of prisoners the following day. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said negotiators discussed exchanging 1,000 prisoners from each side, with the possibility of raising the number to 1,500 per side. The final number had not been settled when the understanding was announced. This arrangement puts carrying out the exchange and drawing up its lists at the top of the round’s next practical steps.
The delegations held their first round in nine months, amid ongoing disagreements over occupied Ukrainian territory, security guarantees and Europe’s role in any settlement. Wednesday’s session lasted just under two hours, following a four-hour session the previous day, according to the Associated Press. Kushner said distrust between the sides was expected after a conflict of this kind, and that territorial issues would be the hardest to resolve. The fate of Donbas remained one of the main points of contention, as Kyiv rejected Moscow’s demand that it cede the entire eastern region in exchange for peace. U.S. mediators sought to steer the discussion toward security guarantees and postwar reconstruction, Reuters reported.
European involvement remained a point of disagreement during the Abu Dhabi meetings. European officials and NATO representatives held separate consultations with U.S. and Ukrainian officials, but the Russian delegation refused to meet with them, Reuters reported. Kushner said Europeans should be present at future talks. Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said ensuring Ukraine’s security required first ending the war and providing security guarantees, noting that broader negotiating formats including European representatives had been discussed. This dispute is tied to the form of any future negotiating framework and the place security guarantees would have within it.
The understanding on prisoners came as attacks on Russian infrastructure continued. The governor of the Leningrad region said Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at the port of Ust-Luga, a major outlet for Russian oil exports, and injured three workers. Russia’s Defense Ministry also said it had shot down 627 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 150 over the area around St. Petersburg. These developments on the ground came as the talks ended without a broader agreement to end the war. Russian forces control about one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory, Reuters reported, in the backdrop to the negotiations.
A Russian official said the expected exchange could be one of the largest since 1,000 soldiers from each side returned to their countries the previous year. The latest exchange could take place over the next two or three weeks, the Associated Press quoted the Russian official as saying. The preliminary agreement announcement did not specify the final number of prisoners or when the operation would be carried out. After the Abu Dhabi talks, Kushner said more work was needed to arrange a direct meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy. He added that Moscow wanted to make more progress before such a meeting took place.
Kushner announced that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff would travel with him to Moscow on Thursday to meet Putin, before they head to Dublin to meet Zelenskyy. A Ukrainian negotiator said the talks had been difficult but described them as providing good momentum toward reaching a solution before the end of the year, without giving further details. Territorial issues, security guarantees and Europe’s involvement remain among the matters left unresolved in the Abu Dhabi round. The trip to Moscow and then Dublin follows the preliminary agreement on a prisoner exchange. The exchange’s implementation and scale depend on what the sides determine in the next step.