Russia and Ukraine agree to large prisoner exchange after Abu Dhabi talks

Russia and Ukraine agreed to a large exchange of prisoners of war after two days of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi, officials said Wednesday.

Prisoner exchange

"One of the positives is we agreed that we're going to have the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners, which we're going to finalize the numbers tomorrow," Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, said after the talks ended.

Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, and Rustem Umerov, who led Kyiv's delegation in Abu Dhabi, confirmed the planned exchange. Medinsky noted that the agreement was "in principle."

Next steps and broader talks

Kushner said he and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet with President Vladimir Putin, then fly to Dublin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

European officials were in Abu Dhabi but did not attend the three-way talks. Moscow does not want European countries involved in the direct negotiations. Kushner said one of the goals of the Moscow meeting is to try to get Europeans added to the talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday's session was "constructive and quite substantive." The talks were largely about humanitarian issues, including possible prisoner exchanges and returning Ukrainian civilians in captivity, as well as children taken from the country, he said. Security guarantees also were discussed.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the meeting "very productive," while cautioning that a breakthrough on stopping the war will take time.

Why it matters

• Russia and Ukraine agreed to a large prisoner of war exchange, with numbers to be finalized the next day.
• The talks produced no major breakthrough on ending the nearly five-year war.
• U.S. envoys will meet with Putin in Moscow and Zelenskyy in Dublin on Thursday.
• Moscow opposes European participation in direct negotiations, while Kushner said Europeans must be involved in postwar security discussions.

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Sources

• npr.org: Russia and Ukraine agree to a large exchange of prisoners of war, officials say : NPR
• ctvnews.ca: Ukraine, Russia agree to POW exchange in U.S.-mediated talks

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.