Ukraine and Russia discuss prisoner swap deal during ‘constructive’ talks

ABU DHABI — After a nine-month break, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met to restart face-to-face talks on how to end the four-and-a-half-year war, with tentative signs of early progress. The two sides discussed an exchange of prisoners, but contrary to some reports, it has not yet been finalized, according to one official familiar with the matter, who was granted anonymity because the meeting was confidential. The talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday focused on what security guarantees Ukraine — and Russia — want to see after the war ends.

On the second and final day of the meeting on Wednesday, negotiators are due to turn to the highly sensitive question of territory. Privately, U.S. officials who convened the meeting say both Russia and Ukraine have shown at least some readiness to be flexible on the issue of land.

The meeting with Russia and the U.S. was “constructive and quite substantive,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X after receiving a report from his negotiating team. “They had time to discuss the need and possible parameters for humanitarian steps.