Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange prisoners as the warring parties pressed ahead with “detailed and productive” negotiations to end the four-year conflict, according to President Donald Trump’s special envoy.
The two sides will swap 314 prisoners in the first such exchange in five months, Steve Witkoff said in a post on platform X on Thursday. He cited progress in three-way discussions in Abu Dhabi, with results expected “in the coming weeks.”
“This outcome was achieved from peace talks that have been detailed and productive,” Witkoff, who was joined in the United Arab Emirates by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, said. “While significant work remains, steps like this demonstrate that sustained diplomatic engagement is delivering tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy this week called the negotiating round a test of the Kremlin’s commitment to the process after Russian forces unleashed the biggest missile-and-drone attack on Kyiv this year, plunging the capital further into darkness.
The assaults on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have left large swathes of the country without heating, power and water as temperatures fell to -25C (-13F) this week.
The head of Ukraine’s delegation, national security chief Rustem Umerov, called the talks in Abu Dhabi “meaningful and productive” late Wednesday. Discussions were ongoing as of noon Thursday, according to an Umerov aide.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday said the discussions had not yet yielded a conclusion.
Negotiations zeroed in on the issue that’s proved the most implacable in the talks: territory. Russia has insisted on seizing control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, including parts that its forces have failed to take since fighting there began in 2014.
(c) 2026, Bloomberg · Daryna Krasnolutska