Russia and Ukraine agree to large prisoner exchange but no peace talks breakthrough

Climate Emergency / 12 November 2026 Small island leaders tell Cop31 of need for urgent action on climate change 12 November 2026 Big Tech / 12 November 2026 Brazil fines Facebook $1.3m for failing to comply with court orders during election 12 November 2026 Latin America / 12 November 2026 Former Red Brigades member escapes house arrest in Argentina 12 November 2026 US Politics / 12 November 2026 Mississippi elects first black senator since 19th century 12 November 2026 Southeast Asia / 12 November 2026 Indonesian police chief says illegal wiretapping targeted not only president but many others 12 November 2026 Round-up / 12 November 2026 World in brief: November 12, 2026 12 November 2026 RUSSIA and Ukraine agreed to a large exchange of prisoners of war, envoys said today as two days of United States-mediated talks concluded.

But there was no major breakthrough in the first negotiations between the two sides since February.

Russia and Ukraine have from time to time swapped POWs but remained far apart in their demands for agreeing a peace settlement.

As well as post-war security guarantees for both countries, other key hurdles for negotiators are the fate of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory and what role European countries will play, if any, in an eventual settlement.

“One of the positives is we agreed that we’re going to have the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners, which we’re going to finalise the numbers tomorrow,” said Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, after the talks in Abu Dhabi ended.

Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, and Rustem Umerov, who led Kiev’s contingent, confirmed the planned exchange, though Mr Medinsky noted that the agreement was “in principle.”

Mr Kushner said he and his fellow envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet with President Vladimir Putin, then fly to Dublin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Kiev’s delegation was due to meet last night with representatives of European governments, the European Union and the Nato military bloc, who were in the United Arab Emirates capital but did not attend the three-way talks.

Moscow doesn’t want European countries, which it claims provide weaponry to Ukraine, involved in the direct negotiations. 

Mr Kushner said one of the goals of the Moscow meeting is to try to get Europeans added to the talks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said European representatives could eventually join peace talks, but he said their current statements “don’t indicate any desire on their part to contribute to movement along the path toward peace.”