Russia and Ukraine have agreed to carry out the largest exchange of prisoners of war since the conflict began, officials said on Wednesday after two days of talks in Abu Dhabi mediated by the United States.
Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and one of the US envoys at the talks, said the two sides had agreed “the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners”, with the final numbers to be settled on Thursday. Vladimir Medinsky, who led the Russian delegation, and Rustem Umerov, who headed Kyiv’s team, both confirmed the planned exchange.
No figure and no date were announced when the talks ended. Russian state news agency TASS later cited Lieutenant-General Alexander Zorin as saying the swap could take place within two to three weeks and involve more than 1,000 captives on each side. That detail has not been confirmed by Ukraine or the United States, and should be treated with caution.
Kushner said he and fellow US envoy Steve Witkoff would travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet President Vladimir Putin, before flying to Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The talks were the first meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in nine months, and the first three-way round with the United States since talks in Geneva in February. Hopes of a major breakthrough had been low, and none was announced on ending the war itself.
Medinsky said mutual understanding had been reached on some issues but not others, and that more negotiations would follow. He said a possible new European security framework had been a central theme of the two days, and that Russia saw no role for the European Union in the process for now.
Much of the discussion was devoted to humanitarian questions, including prisoner exchanges, the return of Ukrainian civilians held in captivity, and children taken from the country, Kushner said.
The two sides have swapped prisoners regularly during the war, which is now in its fifth year, but the scale promised in Abu Dhabi would make this the largest single release yet. Fighting has continued throughout the talks, with little territory changing hands this year and Russia continuing to strike Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as winter approaches.
Sources: Associated Press, “Russia and Ukraine agree to a large exchange of prisoners of war” (https://www.theoldhamtimes.co.uk/news/national/26719493.russia-ukraine-agree-large-exchange-prisoners-war/); Reuters, “Russian negotiator reports some progress after Ukraine talks, sees no EU role in process for now” (https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-negotiator-reports-some-progress-after-ukraine-talks-sees-no-eu-role-2026-11-11/); Reuters via Devdiscourse, “Prisoner swap agreed at Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi may happen in next 2-3 weeks, TASS reports” (https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/international/4005194-prisoner-swap-agreed-at-ukraine-talks-in-abu-dhabi-may-happen-in-next-2-3-weeks-tass-reports).
