The delegations of Ukraine and Russia gathered in the United Arab Emirates, with the mediation of the United States, have reached this Wednesday an agreement to carry out a large-scale prisoner exchange, the main advance after the resumption of contacts following nine months of a blockade in the negotiations.
The head of the Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi, Vladimir Medinski, has explained that the second day of talks, which lasted about two hours, was devoted to humanitarian matters. In this context, the parties have closed this new pact, which adds to other similar swaps carried out in recent months.
"We have reached a fundamental agreement on another large-scale prisoner exchange. The details will be made known soon," he said at the end of the meeting, in statements to the Russian agency TASS.
For his part, the head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence services, Rustem Umerov, has ratified the understanding for a "large-scale" exchange of prisoners of war.
"Now we are working to finalize the details and move forward with its practical implementation. Bringing our compatriots back home remains one of our top priorities. We are doing everything possible to ensure that every Ukrainian returns from captivity as soon as possible," he specified.
Umerov indicated that at this trilateral meeting, they also discussed how to achieve peace and the future reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, stressing that the first step is to "end the war and guarantee security assurances for Ukraine."
In any case, he warned that "significant differences" persist between the delegations and that "a great deal of difficult work still lies ahead," although he highlighted that there are "opportunities to continue the negotiation process."
The talks involved the United States’ special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, Donald Trump, within the framework of the first meetings in nine months to discuss "parameters for humanitarian measures" with a view to a possible ceasefire and to an eventual peace agreement between Kiev and Moscow.
Representatives of the European Union and NATO have also traveled to the Emirates, which hold parallel meetings with the Ukrainian delegation to coordinate positions and advance matters related to the security of the European continent.
After the first day of talks, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski said that the meeting addressed "in detail" the content of "security guarantees for Ukraine and the bases for its long-term functioning," that is, the security mechanism intended to prevent the conflict from happening again in the future, a project that could contemplate the deployment of foreign troops on Ukrainian territory.