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Russia and Ukraine agree major prisoner exchange at Abu Dhabi talks

Summarised from 13 outlets · 24 reports · Updated 12 Nov, 00:32 · Archive

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange after two days of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi, the first meeting since February.

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange after concluding two days of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. The exchange, expected to involve more than 1,000 prisoners from each side, would be the largest of the war. Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and one of the senior US negotiators, described it as 'the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners' and said final numbers would be confirmed on Thursday. Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky and Ukrainian chief negotiator Rustem Umerov both confirmed the planned exchange.

The talks were the first between the two sides since February, following a roughly nine-month hiatus. Ukraine's delegation member Davyd Arakhamia said the Russian team had arrived with 'very, very strict directives', describing the talks as 'one of the hardest'. However, he said there had been 'really big progress' on security guarantees for Ukraine after the war and expressed 'good momentum' for a second round as soon as possible.

Despite agreeing on the prisoner exchange, the talks produced little else in the way of concrete breakthroughs towards ending the war. Kushner acknowledged deep divides remain, particularly over territory. Russia's chief negotiator said the Kremlin aimed for a 'new, modern Yalta' – referring to the 1945 conference in which Western leaders divided Europe with the Soviet Union – suggesting Moscow wants to negotiate a broad European security framework before resolving the conflict itself.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the talks were 'constructive and quite substantive'. He criticised Russia's battlefield claims, saying Putin 'lives in a different reality' after Moscow claimed it controlled half of the Donbas region in Ukraine's east. Zelenskyy said the American side confirmed Ukraine's own assessment of the battlefield situation. Ukraine has rejected proposals to redefine Donbas borders to reflect current territorial divisions, viewing recognition of Russian occupation as a red line.

US envoys Kushner and Steve Witkoff are scheduled to travel to Moscow on Thursday to brief Russian President Vladimir Putin on the talks, then fly to Dublin to meet Zelenskyy. Kushner said the US aims to secure Putin's approval for European representatives to participate in future negotiations. Zelenskyy, speaking in Dublin, said there could be a 'window of opportunity' to end the war before 2027, though he remained sceptical. He welcomed what he called a 'change in tone' from the US on European involvement in the talks.

Both sides continued military operations during the negotiations. Russia's defence ministry said its forces struck a cargo vessel in the Black Sea south-west of Odesa and hit electricity substations in Ukraine's Kryvyi Rih and Odesa regions. Ukraine reportedly launched a drone attack on Russia's Ust-Luga oil export facility, causing a fire, and struck power infrastructure in the Leningrad region.

Russia and Ukraine agree major prisoner exchange at Abu Dhabi talks
Image: The Japan Times

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In this story: Russia · Ukraine · United States · Vladimir Putin · Volodymyr Zelenskyy · Jared Kushner · Abu Dhabi · Donbas

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log