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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, according to officials involved in or briefed on the discussions.
“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, told reporters that negotiations had made progress on post-war security guarantees for Ukraine, but said no deal could be reached until the sides resolved their territorial dispute.
But despite U.S. optimism about a possible deal, Russia has shown no indication it is willing to compromise on President Vladimir Putin’s demands to end the invasion, now in its fifth year. Vladimir Medinsky, Moscow’s chief negotiator, told reporters that “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 as his army’s advance on the battlefield is hesitant, remains one of the main points of friction.
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.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday described the first round of negotiations as “constructive and quite substantial”. “They spoke in detail about the substance of security guarantees for Ukraine and the foundations for ensuring that these guarantees work in the long term… The need for de-escalation measures was also discussed,” he said.
Medinsky also said that Russia believed that “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.
Russia refused to meet the European and NATO envoys present in Abu Dhabi, who only held talks with the American and Ukrainian delegations. 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.
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 special envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to travel to Moscow to meet with Putin on Thursday after the talks conclude. A senior Ukrainian official said U.S. negotiators would then travel to Ireland to meet with Zelensky, where he is expected to attend a summit with other Western leaders.
Trilateral negotiations were suspended in February after the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran. Despite their resumption this week, officials had low expectations given Putin’s intransigence.
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.
Zelensky said on Tuesday that kyiv and Moscow could exchange up to 1,500 prisoners each. Arakhamia said it was worth holding talks despite the lack of major progress as long as the sides continued prisoner exchanges.
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