Russia, Ukraine and US Open Abu Dhabi Talks as Washington Cites Flexibility on Land

Updated 14:29 UTC: Reuters reported new detail on the scale and timing of the prisoner swap agreed in Abu Dhabi. Russian state news agency TASS cited Russian Lieutenant-General Alexander Zorin as saying the exchange would consist of more than 1,000 captives on each side and may happen in the next two to three weeks. Russia's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said mutual understanding had been reached on some issues, but not on others, and that more negotiations would take place, Reuters reported. Previous prisoner swaps have usually involved no more than a few hundred prisoners each, Reuters said.

Updated 12:26 UTC: The two days of talks in Abu Dhabi have ended, and officials said the sides have agreed a large exchange of prisoners of war. Jared Kushner said: "One of the positives is we agreed that we're going to have the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners, which we're going to finalize the numbers tomorrow." Vladimir Medinsky, who led the Russian delegation, and Rustem Umerov, who led Kyiv's delegation, confirmed the planned exchange, the Associated Press reported. The talks ended without a clear breakthrough on ending the war, CNN reported. Kushner said he and US envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet President Vladimir Putin, then fly to Dublin to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Kushner said the two will try to finalize humanitarian relief and prisoner releases and will push to bring European countries into the talks, a format Moscow has so far resisted. Umerov said Kyiv's delegation was expected to meet on Wednesday with European officials, and representatives of European governments, the European Union and NATO were in Abu Dhabi consulting with the Ukrainian delegation, the Associated Press reported.

Updated 23:03 UTC: The first day of talks ended after nearly four hours. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Paris at the Group of Seven meeting, said: "It looks like the talks in Abu Dhabi were very productive," while adding that a lot of work remains. Neither Rubio nor President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended the session in Abu Dhabi. Zelenskyy, speaking during a visit to Denmark, called the session "constructive and quite substantive" and said it dealt mainly with humanitarian issues, including prisoner exchanges, the return of Ukrainian civilians held in captivity and children taken from Ukraine. Security guarantees were also discussed, he said. Zelenskyy said Wednesday would be the main day of negotiations, when the teams are set to discuss de-escalation options and the possibility of a meeting between him and President Vladimir Putin. "I am not sure that Russia is ready, but we will raise this topic," he said. The talks resume on Wednesday morning. No agreement was announced on Tuesday.

Russia, Ukraine and US negotiators meet in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for two days of talks, the first three way session since February. The talks are scheduled to begin at about 06:30 GMT, officials in Kyiv said. Washington says both sides have moved a little in private on land, the issue blocking every round so far.

US negotiators believe President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Vladimir Putin may each cede a little on territory. A US official who briefed reporters on Monday described "a little bit of flexibility" on both sides, Reuters and the BBC reported. A senior Ukrainian official pushed back hard, telling Reuters Kyiv would not consider concessions and that territory could be discussed only at leaders level, with proper security guarantees for Ukraine.

The US framework

US officials say territory and security have to be settled together. Their floated framework includes security consultations, crisis hotlines, reciprocal de-escalation steps, and a possible revival of the NATO-Russia Council, largely paused since 2022, the BBC and the Washington Post reported. None of it is agreed.

The meetings are expected to run on two tracks, Axios reported. A military working group led by General Alexus Grynkewich, head of US European Command, will take up ceasefire monitoring and postwar security. A political group will take up territorial demands, the issue that stalled the February round in Geneva.

The delegations

Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky again leads Russia's delegation, which includes Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov for the first time and senior military officer Yuri Zhigarlovsky, Reuters reported. Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's foreign intelligence service, leads Kyiv's team. For Washington: special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son in law.

"We are working hard to find a negotiated solution that can deliver lasting peace and create the conditions for a sovereign, secure, and prosperous Ukraine," Kushner said on Monday, in comments reported by CNN.

Europe, outside the room

France, Germany and the European Commission have sent officials to Abu Dhabi, but Russia does not want Europeans taking part in the negotiations themselves, Reuters reported. Ukrainian delegates will instead brief their European allies separately. "We are doing everything to ensure that Europe is a participant in the diplomatic process," Umerov said on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed that the talks are trilateral, with the United States as mediator, CNN reported.

Public lines hold

In public, neither side has shifted. Putin still insists Ukraine surrender the entire eastern Donbas region before any peace deal, a demand Kyiv has rejected, Reuters reported. Zelenskyy has refused to hand over land his forces have defended. On the eve of the talks he said Ukraine's hand was getting stronger, citing territory retaken in Donetsk and Russian losses he called record, a claim Moscow disputes.

Trump predicted last week that a peace deal could emerge soon. "It's going to be a big agreement, and it's going to involve more than Ukraine. I could even say it might involve all of Europe," he said, in comments reported by Reuters. Expectations outside Washington are low. John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, wrote that expectations should be "very modest." Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko told the BBC he feared Trump wanted a quick deal at Ukraine's expense, which Kyiv would reject.

This is the fourth trilateral round: Geneva ended without a breakthrough and a March round was postponed over the Iran war, CNN reported, The Abu Dhabi talks run through Wednesday, and no agreement has been announced.