The delegations of Ukraine and Russia gathered in the United Arab Emirates, with the mediation of the United States, have closed this Wednesday an agreement to carry out a large-scale prisoner exchange, the main advance of this new round of contacts after nine months of stalemate in the negotiations.
The head of the Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi, Vladimir Medinski, has explained that the second session of talks, which lasted for about two hours, was devoted to humanitarian issues. In this framework, the parties have reached this understanding, which is added to other similar swaps carried out in recent months.
"We have reached a fundamental agreement on another large-scale exchange of prisoners. The details will be made public shortly," he said at the end of the talks, in statements to the Russian agency TASS.
At the negotiating table, the special envoy of the United States, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, Donald Trump, took part, in the context of the first talks in nine months to address "parameters for humanitarian measures" with a view to a possible ceasefire and a subsequent 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 with the aim of coordinating positions and moving forward on matters related to the security of the European continent.
After the first day, the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, highlighted that the meeting addressed "in detail" the content of "security guarantees for Ukraine and the foundations for its long-term operation," that is, the security mechanism intended to prevent the conflict from repeating in the future, a scheme that could contemplate the deployment of foreign troops on Ukrainian territory.