U.S. Envoys to Meet Putin As Ukraine, Russia Agree to Prisoner Swap

Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle on Wednesday to a major prisoner exchange after two days of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi.

The agreement came as U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff prepared to travel to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kushner announced the agreement and said the two sides would finalize the number of prisoners on Thursday.

Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed the plan.

The timing of the exchange remained unclear.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that negotiators had discussed exchanging 1,000 prisoners from each side, with the possibility of raising that figure to 1,500 each.

Kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each during talks in Istanbul in May 2025, when they failed to reach a ceasefire.

Moscow and Dublin Talks

Kushner said he and Witkoff would meet Putin in Moscow on Thursday before traveling to Dublin for talks with Zelensky.

The Abu Dhabi meetings were the first direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia since a round in Geneva in February.

The prisoner exchange was the only concrete agreement to emerge from the latest talks.

Russia continues to demand that Ukraine withdraw from parts of the eastern Donbas region still under Kyiv’s control.

Zelensky has said decisions on territory must be addressed by the countries’ leaders.

Moscow has rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire and is pressing for broader security arrangements before agreeing to halt hostilities.

European representatives held separate consultations with Ukrainian and U.S. officials in Abu Dhabi and stayed outside the three-way negotiations.

Medinsky said his delegation had no contact with the Europeans and that Moscow had received no concrete peace proposals from them.

“We don't really understand in what capacity they are here,” he told reporters.

Umerov said the Ukrainian delegation would hold further talks with European partners on Wednesday.

Washington indicated that European countries should eventually join the negotiations, particularly when they turn to Europe’s future security arrangements.