Ukraine and Russia have reached an understanding in principle on a large-scale prisoner-of-war exchange after two days of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday evening that Kyiv expected the exchange to be substantial. Ukraine’s chief negotiator Rustem Umerov said officials were working through the details and practical arrangements.
Delegations met on 10 and 11 November to discuss ending the war, security guarantees for Ukraine and post-war reconstruction. Umerov said both sides had presented their positions directly, but significant differences remained. The talks did not produce a broader settlement on a ceasefire or territorial issues.
The number of people to be exchanged and the timing have not yet been announced. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to travel to Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, before meeting Zelenskyy in Dublin.
European representatives were not part of the trilateral talks. The EU, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and NATO had held separate coordination discussions with Ukraine and the United States ahead of the negotiations. They stressed that any future arrangement must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and provide credible security guarantees.
The prisoner exchange is the clearest humanitarian outcome so far, while the central political questions remain unresolved.
