Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange after two days of US-mediated peace talks in Abu Dhabi — the one concrete result from the first direct meeting between the warring sides in nine months, which ended without a breakthrough on ending the war.
Key Points
- Abu Dhabi prisoner exchange — Russia and Ukraine agreed to a large exchange of prisoners of war as the two-day talks wrapped up on Wednesday.
- US envoy Jared Kushner said the numbers would be finalised on Thursday; President Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken of 1,000 to 1,500 prisoners on each side.
- There was no agreement on a ceasefire, territorial disputes or long-term security guarantees, and Russia refused even to discuss an energy truce.
- US envoys Steve Witkoff and Kushner flew to Moscow on Thursday to meet President Vladimir Putin, and will brief Zelensky in Dublin on Friday.
The second day of talks lasted less than two hours. “One of the positives was that we agreed we are going to have the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners, which we are going to finalise the numbers [of] tomorrow,” Kushner said afterwards, describing “some pretty tough discussions” after so many months without talks. The Russian General Staff said more than 1,000 prisoners would be handed over by each side over the next two to three weeks.
The talks were the first trilateral meeting of the warring sides since February. The American delegation was led by Witkoff and Kushner; Russia’s team was headed by Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin aide, and Ukraine’s by Rustem Umerov. The UAE said progress was also made on practical measures, including mechanisms to monitor a ceasefire.
The gap that stayed open
For all the talk of a constructive atmosphere, the distance between the two sides barely moved. Medinsky called territorial exchanges as part of a settlement “out of question”, according to Russian state media, and when Ukraine put a halt to strikes on energy infrastructure on the table, the Russian delegation said it could not discuss it. “The Russian side says it has no mandate to answer these questions,” Ukrainian officials said.
The refusal matters because the war on Ukraine’s power grid is intensifying as winter approaches. While negotiators sat in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday night, Russian forces hit six major electrical substations in four central Ukrainian regions, and by Wednesday morning consumers were without power in eight regions, from Kyiv and Odesa to Kharkiv. More than 600,000 people were left without electricity. Overnight, Russia launched more than 160 attack drones at Ukraine, along with cruise missiles and a guided missile fired from the Black Sea.
What happens in Moscow and Dublin
The diplomacy now moves to Russia. Witkoff and Kushner landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on Thursday morning and arrived at the Kremlin for talks with Putin, seeking his backing for European participation in the talks — something Moscow has resisted. Kushner said one of the goals of the Moscow meeting is to try to get Europeans added to the negotiations, arguing that both Ukraine and Russia need clarity on post-war security arrangements, and that European countries, the EU and NATO have to be involved to build consensus on next steps.
After meeting Putin, the envoys will fly to Dublin to brief Zelensky, where EU leaders are gathering for an informal summit on Friday. The Ukrainian president gave a muted welcome to the outcome, calling the proposed prisoner exchange a positive step, while insisting that Ukraine will not give in to demands that it cede its territory. Expectations of a major breakthrough in Abu Dhabi had been low from the outset — but after nine months of silence, even a meeting that ends with an agreement to keep talking, and prisoners going home, is a change.
For background on the talks, see our report on Russia and Ukraine opening the second day of the Abu Dhabi peace talks, and on the US, Russia and Ukraine opening the Abu Dhabi talks. More in our World News section.
Sources: Qatar Tribune, “Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi end with prisoner exchange deal” (https://www.qatar-tribune.com/article/263887/world/russia-ukraine-talks-in-abu-dhabi-end-with-prisoner-exchange-deal); The National, “President Sheikh Mohamed meets Witkoff and Kushner during Russia-Ukraine talks” (https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uae/2026/11/12/president-sheikh-mohamed-meets-witkoff-and-kushner-during-russia-ukraine-talks/).