Russia and Ukraine agree large prisoner swap after US-mediated Abu Dhabi talks

Prisoner exchange agreed

Russia and Ukraine agreed on a new large-scale exchange of prisoners, Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinski said on Wednesday, 11 November, at the close of two days of talks in Abu Dhabi. He said the concrete details of the swap would be announced later. Ukrainian media had reported an agreement for a large exchange after the first day, but no official confirmation had come from Moscow at that stage.

Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking at a press conference in Copenhagen, said Kyiv would like a swap of 1,000 for 1,000, and possibly 1,500 for 1,500. Those figures describe Ukraine's wish, and the sources do not yet give the final size of the deal.

Talks in Abu Dhabi

The delegations met under US mediation, with envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner taking part. Der Tagesspiegel described the round as the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine since February, while RP Online called it the first direct working-level talks under US mediation in more than eight months. The first day, on Tuesday, 10 November, brought no decisive progress.

Medinski said the sides agreed on some points and not on others, and that the talks should continue. He argued that the conflict showed Europe's security system was not working, and that the world needed a new system. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, told RIA that there was a basis for further work. According to RP Online, Russia said it held no contacts with EU representatives in Abu Dhabi, because the EU backs one side in the war with weapons and money.

Security order and territory

Kushner pressed for a new security architecture for Europe from the opening of the talks, framing the goal as building the right security relations between Ukraine, Russia and Europe so that the war ends with a new framework in place. A statement published by Witkoff and the EU reaffirmed commitment to a strong European security architecture and said NATO should keep an important role in defending the Euro-Atlantic area. Der Tagesspiegel expects European security, alongside territory and guarantees, to be a central sticking point, and cites delegation sources saying Russia wants the talks to focus on the core elements of a post-war European security order. In the newspaper's reading of Putin's statements going back to the 2000s, Russia wants NATO rolled back to its position before eastward enlargement.

Before the talks, a source familiar with them told the Financial Times that Putin wanted further territorial concessions from Kyiv. Zelensky said territory was a question for heads of state, but his negotiators had a mandate to discuss it. Ukraine has so far rejected ceding territory to Russia in any peace settlement. Russia began its war of aggression against its neighbour in February 2022.

Summit and next steps

Zelensky declined to travel to Moscow for a possible summit with Putin. Putin has repeatedly expressed willingness to talk but has not agreed to a meeting at a neutral venue such as Abu Dhabi or Geneva. Zelensky said the US delegation would take this agenda to Russia after the talks. Kushner wrote on X that the discussions were constructive and that work continues to end the devastating war.