Russia and Ukraine agreed to a sweeping prisoner swap in the first U.S.-brokered peace talks since February, which ended Wednesday in Abu Dhabi without any major breakthroughs, officials said.
“The Russians came with very, very strict instructions, and it was difficult to soften the discussion,” David Arakhamia, one of the Ukrainian negotiators, told reporters after the talks.
“But the way the American representatives structured the post-war situation for both countries, in my opinion, opened the dialogue and we began to work more productively.”
He added that there was “good momentum to find a solution before the new year.”
Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, said the two days of negotiations had made progress on post-war security guarantees for Ukraine, but added that no deal could be reached until the two sides resolved their territorial dispute.
In the next exchange of prisoners, the goal was to exceed 1,000 on each side, Alexander Zorin, first deputy head of Russian military intelligence, told state television.
“Last year, the largest exchange involved 1,000 people. This is the benchmark from which we will work,” he said.
A senior Ukrainian official confirmed a preliminary agreement between the warring sides to exchange prisoners of war, but said the exact number and timing were still to be determined.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that kyiv and Moscow could exchange up to 1,500 prisoners each.
Despite U.S. optimism about an eventual peace deal, Russia has shown Abu Dhabi no indication that it is willing to compromise on President Vladimir Putin’s demands to end the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year.
Vladimir Medinsky, Moscow’s chief negotiator, said “every square meter of land will be returned to Russia in one way or another.”
Putin’s demands include that Ukraine withdraw from the rest of the front-line Donbass region under its control, as well as two other regions partially occupied by Russia.
The Russian president’s insistence on conquering more Ukrainian lands, even though his army’s advance on the battlefield has failed, remains one of the sticking points.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, told state television that Putin remained determined to achieve the goals he had set for his invasion. Ukraine has rejected Putin’s demands, which Kyiv says amount to capitulation.
Medinsky said Russia believed “the entire security system in Europe (after World War II) was working very poorly” and wanted to change it.
“In fact, the whole body is sick, and Ukraine was just a cyst that burst. The whole body needs to be healed. A bandage will not be enough,” Medinsky added.
Europe is concerned about Moscow’s efforts to rethink the continent’s security architecture, including de facto barring NATO from welcoming new members and forcing the alliance to withdraw its troops and military equipment stationed on its eastern flank.
Russia refused to meet the European and NATO envoys present in Abu Dhabi, who only held talks with the American and Ukrainian delegations.
Zelensky on Wednesday welcomed US indications that Washington would be ready to accept European participation in future peace talks.
He also said he needed “concrete answers” regarding security guarantees for Ukraine from Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy.
“It depends on whether the American side is willing to put pressure on Russia or not,” Zelensky said at a news conference in Dublin, where he will attend a European summit.
Medinsky said Russia would only talk to European countries “when their consciences awaken” and they would stop supplying weapons to Ukraine.
“We haven’t heard any specific peace initiatives from any European country, so we don’t know exactly what to discuss with them,” he said.
Kushner and Witkoff are expected to meet Putin on Thursday in Moscow. A senior Ukrainian official said U.S. negotiators would then travel to Ireland to meet with Zelensky.
Trilateral negotiations involving the United States, Russia and Ukraine were suspended in February after the start of Trump’s war against Iran.
Officials had few expectations ahead of the negotiations in Abu Dhabi given that Putin has shown no signs of wanting to end his war in Ukraine.
Arakhamia said negotiations were worthwhile, despite the lack of major progress, as long as the sides continued prisoner exchanges.
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