Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi end with prisoner exchange agreement

Two days of negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials, facilitated by the United States, resulted in an agreement for a prisoner exchange but did not achieve any significant progress towards ending the five-year war. Russia's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, announced at the talks held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, that both parties had reached a large-scale prisoner swap and that some issues were mutually understood.

According to Russia's state-run news agency TASS, the prisoner exchange is expected to take place within two to three weeks. Once finalized, it will be another in a series of such exchanges. US envoy Jared Kushner disclosed at a press conference that the final number of prisoners involved would be determined on Thursday. He also revealed that he would accompany US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow, where they would inform Russian President Vladimir Putin about the discussions and attempt to make further progress on the issues raised, as there were indications of potential opportunities.

After their Moscow meeting, Kushner and Witkoff would travel to Dublin, Ireland, to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and discuss the ideas generated during the Abu Dhabi talks. Political analyst Dmitry Medvedenko commented to Al Jazeera that prisoner exchanges have become a routine event, with both sides exchanging between 100 and 300 prisoners of war every two to three months.

This has been the case following talks in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier in February, where Russia and Ukraine released 200 POWs each. In addition, last year, after mediation by the UAE, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 146 prisoners each following three rounds of talks from May to July in Istanbul, Turkey.