No visible progress toward a peace settlement emerged from the latest U.S.-mediated Ukraine-Russia talks in Abu Dhabi, though the delegations confirmed plans for a major prisoner exchange, The Associated Press reported.
Russian delegation head Vladimir Medinsky described the arrangement as agreed “in principle,” according to AP. U.S. envoy Jared Kushner said the exchange’s numbers would be finalized Thursday.
At a joint news conference Wednesday, Ukraine’s chief negotiator Rustem Umerov said the talks had made “huge progress” on security and prosperity. He did not specify what had advanced. David Arakhamia, parliamentary leader of Ukraine’s ruling Servant of the People faction, called the session “one of the toughest sessions.”
The wider peace terms remained unsettled. AP reported that the talks left open the future of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, the security framework after the war and Europe’s participation in a settlement.
The delegations’ meeting was their first in nine months, AP reported. Russia and Ukraine have carried out prisoner exchanges before, though this newly planned exchange had not yet been completed. The talks took place Nov. 10-11, after EconoTimes had reported the Abu Dhabi meetings were scheduled.
AP reported that U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Kushner were due to discuss the Abu Dhabi talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, followed by a planned meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin.
