Russia and Ukraine agree to major prisoner swap after two days of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi

Russian, Ukrainian and American negotiators concluded two days of talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday with an agreement on what a White House envoy called the largest prisoner exchange of the nearly five-year war, but with no public movement on the territorial and security disputes that have blocked a broader settlement.

The session was the first trilateral meeting since February, after the process stalled when a separate US-Israel conflict with Iran erupted. Russia's chief negotiator, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters the two sides would announce details of the prisoner swap "shortly," while the Moscow Times reported that White House envoy Jared Kushner called the agreement "the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners" of the war, with final numbers to be worked out Thursday.

Talks opened Tuesday with a roughly four-hour session that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called "constructive and quite substantive." Wednesday's closing round ran under two hours, according to NBC News, after which the Ukrainian delegation held a separate meeting with European and American envoys. Medinsky offered a guarded assessment of the two days: "In some places we reached an understanding, in other places we did not."

What was discussed, and what was not

The talks were led on the Russian side by Medinsky, joined by deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin and military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov, according to an Associated Press account carried by PBS NewsHour. Ukraine's delegation was headed by Rustem Umerov, head of the country's Foreign Intelligence Service, and reportedly included Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov. The United States was represented by Kushner and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff; General Alexus Grynkewich, the commander of US European Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, also attended.

Discussions centered on humanitarian issues — the prisoner exchange, the return of Ukrainian civilians held in Russia and the fate of Ukrainian children taken from the country — along with post-war security arrangements, officials said. Left largely unresolved were the core disputes that have stalled three previous rounds this year: Moscow's demand that Ukrainian forces withdraw from the full extent of four regions Russia annexed in 2022 but does not fully control, Russia's insistence that Ukraine abandon its NATO ambitions and accept limits on its armed forces, and Kyiv's refusal to cede territory or accept a ceasefire that does not include Western security guarantees.

Umerov told reporters the Ukrainian side wanted the talks to become multilateral rather than strictly trilateral, with European governments formally represented. Zelenskyy said Europe "must be represented at every stage of real diplomacy." Medinsky rejected that, telling reporters Moscow does not "understand what status" European officials would have at the table and that European nations could become "full-fledged" partners only once their "conscience awakens," a reference to continued Western military support for Kyiv. The Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia's delegation had no contact with European representatives in Abu Dhabi and none was planned, though he said Vladimir Putin remains open to separate contact with the European Union and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

A fourth round, hosted by a self-styled mediator

The United Arab Emirates has hosted every round of the US-brokered process this year, after an initial session in Abu Dhabi in January, a second round there in early February and a third in Geneva in mid-February, none of which produced an agreement to end the fighting. The UAE's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, attended Tuesday's opening and said in a statement published by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs that he hoped the talks would produce "practical steps" toward ending a war that has lasted nearly five years, describing the UAE as "a trusted partner in fostering an environment conducive to dialogue" with all three governments.

The resumption came as both militaries kept fighting through the talks. Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 162 drones and a ballistic missile overnight into Tuesday; Russia's defense ministry said it downed 155 Ukrainian drones over eight Russian regions and Crimea and struck a cargo vessel in the Black Sea it said was carrying weapons. Ukraine's prime minister, Serhii Koretskyi, said Russian strikes hit six large electricity substations across four central regions as winter approaches. None of those overnight claims could be independently verified.

• Tuesday's opening session ran roughly four hours; Wednesday's closing session lasted under two.
• Russia's delegation included deputy foreign ministers Ryabkov and Galuzin and intelligence chief Kostyukov; Ukraine's included Umerov and Budanov.
• Russian forces hold roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, and the front line has been largely static for months.
• Kushner and Witkoff fly to Moscow Thursday to brief Putin, then to Dublin to meet Zelenskyy.

Who is affected, and the reaction so far

The most direct beneficiaries of Wednesday's announcement would be the prisoners of war and detained civilians on both sides awaiting exchange, families who have spent years petitioning for information on captured relatives, and displaced civilians in regions still being struck nightly by drones and missiles.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, attending a Group of Seven foreign ministers' meeting in Paris rather than the Abu Dhabi talks themselves, called the first day's session "very productive" but cautioned against expecting quick results, saying the issue "is not close to being solved within 24 hours." German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters in Paris that "Europe belongs at this table. There can be no solution without Europe, only with Europe," underscoring the rift between Washington's trilateral format and European governments' insistence on a seat.

"Our people are waiting to end this war," Umerov told reporters in Abu Dhabi, according to the Associated Press, adding that he hoped for a lasting peace.

European governments have separately pledged what they call binding security guarantees for Ukraine once a ceasefire takes hold. A January statement from the Coalition of the Willing, issued jointly with Ukraine and the United States after a Paris meeting, committed to politically and legally binding guarantees, a US-led ceasefire monitoring mechanism and a European-led force to help rebuild Ukraine's military — commitments that would only take effect once fighting stops, and that Moscow has so far kept at arm's length from the negotiating table.

What happens next

Kushner and Witkoff are scheduled to fly to Moscow on Thursday to brief Putin on the Abu Dhabi discussions, then travel to Dublin to meet Zelenskyy, according to a France 24 live update. The precise scale of the prisoner exchange is expected to be finalized that same day. Kushner said the US sees "some openings" in the Russian and Ukrainian positions but also warned that deep distrust between the two sides remains a major obstacle to any comprehensive deal. No date has been set for a further round of trilateral talks.

President Trump has repeatedly predicted an imminent breakthrough in recent weeks. Analysts who track the talks have been skeptical of such predictions before each of the previous three rounds, which ended with upbeat language from US officials but no signed agreement. Whether Thursday's Moscow and Dublin meetings produce more than another round of diplomatic positioning is likely to shape whether a fifth round of trilateral talks follows — or whether, as in February, the process stalls again.