Russia and Ukraine agreed a large exchange of prisoners of war, envoys said Wednesday as two days of US mediated talks concluded, but they announced no major breakthrough on ending the conflict that began after Moscow’s military operation in nearly five years ago.
Hopes had been low for any significant development in the first meeting in nine months between the delegations. Russia and Ukraine have from time to time swapped POWs but have remained far apart in their demands for accepting a peace settlement.
US officials say they are determined to revive Washington’s peace efforts that so far have failed to deliver significant results.
As well as postwar security guarantees for both countries, other key hurdles for negotiators are the fate of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory and what role European countries will play in an eventual settlement.
The session was the first such meeting since February on Russia’s military operation, which analysts and humanitarian organisations say has killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians.
“One of the positives is we agreed that we’re going to have the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners, which we’re going to finalise the numbers tomorrow,” said Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, after the talks in Abu Dhabi ended.
Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, and Rustem Umerov, who led Kyiv’s contingent, confirmed the planned exchange, though Medinsky noted that the agreement was “in principle.”
Kushner said he and US envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet with President Vladimir Putin, then fly to Dublin, Ireland, to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
