Russia and Ukraine agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange at US-mediated talks that ended on 11 November after a four-hour opening session. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called that session constructive and substantive, saying it covered prisoners and security guarantees. After the trilateral session, Ukrainian negotiators were meeting European and US envoys separately for a debrief, a delegation source told AFP.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange after US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi ended on 11 November. Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, Ukrainian chief negotiator Rustem Umerov and US envoy Jared Kushner confirmed the agreement; the exchange has not yet taken place.
The round followed talks in Geneva in February that ended without a breakthrough. The Abu Dhabi discussions also ended without a breakthrough on ending the war.
The first session on 10 November lasted four hours; the final day’s session lasted less than two. The previous meeting of the three negotiating teams was in Geneva on 18 February. The Abu Dhabi round was the first trilateral talks in more than nine months. The meeting was held behind closed doors without media access.
The planned exchange is expected to involve more than 1,000 prisoners from each side, The Guardian said. Kushner said the numbers would be finalized on 12 November and that the release would reunite families, build trust and create momentum toward peace. Russia’s state-run TASS news agency said the exchange should take place in two to three weeks.
US officials said the final exchange numbers remained to be confirmed, Politico reported. Medinsky said details would be announced shortly. Earlier, an anonymous senior Ukrainian official told AP that the two sides had discussed a large-scale swap and would discuss details in the coming days; Zelenskyy said US officials would travel to Russia to discuss the exchange further.
Medinsky led Russia’s delegation and Umerov Ukraine’s, while White House envoys Witkoff and Kushner mediated for the US. Kushner is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Russia’s delegation also included Deputy Foreign Ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin and senior military and intelligence officials. Ryabkov confirmed the talks would continue on 11 November but declined to assess progress, saying it was too early, Interfax reported.
The foreign ministers agreed in Paris to increase financial and material support for Ukraine’s energy security, building on an earlier pledge to help the country through winter.
Umerov said the second day began with talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the US. Afterward, Ukraine’s team was meeting European and US envoys for a separate briefing, a Ukrainian delegation source told AFP. Reuters had earlier said, citing sources, that the trilateral session had concluded.
Zelenskyy, who did not attend the opening session, said it covered the return of captive Ukrainian civilians and children taken from Ukraine, as well as prisoner exchanges and security guarantees. He said the substance of guarantees for Ukraine and the foundations for their long-term implementation were discussed in detail. He later confirmed an arrangement to prepare a new exchange.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also did not attend. Speaking in Paris at a Group of Seven meeting, he called the talks very productive but urged patience, saying much work remained and a solution was not imminent. Kushner told delegates his team had narrowed the gaps and hoped to move toward a solution. Medinsky said there was mutual understanding on some issues but not others, and that further talks would be held.
Ukrainian negotiator Davyd Arakhamia said there had been substantial progress on postwar security guarantees, but did not announce an agreement on them. He called the round one of the hardest, saying he believed the Russian team had arrived with strict instructions, but said he felt good momentum and urged another round as soon as possible.
A senior Ukrainian source told AFP that Kyiv wanted at least 10 years of financial support to sustain an 800,000-strong army able to defend against a Russian attack. Umerov said the priorities included ending hostilities, reliable postwar guarantees, Ukraine’s economic recovery and development, and humanitarian steps. Russia and Ukraine had said the talks would focus on security guarantees; Kushner said they would address both countries' postwar security concerns.
Russia demands that Ukraine give up the parts of the eastern Donetsk region it still controls. Ukraine wants to freeze the current line of contact and keep those areas, which it says are vital to its future security. Medinsky also said he saw no possibility of exchanging territories as part of a peace deal.
A US official said the sides had shown a little flexibility privately, although neither had changed its public territorial demands. The official said a territorial agreement would probably come near the end of negotiations and could not be finalized separately from postwar security arrangements. Kushner said agreement on a peacetime security framework depended on ending the war, which required agreement on territory and other bilateral issues.
A Ukrainian delegation source told AFP that Ukraine wants fighting to stop and its security guarantees to be in place before discussions on Europe’s future security arrangements. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the broad European framework should be defined before resolving the conflict.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on 9 November that meaningful discussions of European security could occur only after a ceasefire in Ukraine and in an appropriate forum involving NATO allies and EU members. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Europe already had a security architecture and that the problem was Russia’s failure to respect its commitments on sovereignty and territorial integrity.
US administration officials said their proposal included a long-term security architecture between Russia and Europe. Kushner described stronger consultation, reliable crisis communications, military transparency and reciprocal measures to reduce escalation, while respecting sovereignty and independent decision-making. The proposed measures include hotlines; US officials also floated reviving the NATO-Russia Council, largely paused since 2022, and potentially lifting sanctions on Russia. An administration official argued that a new framework was needed because existing arrangements had not prevented the war. A European security official said the US proposal was not yet clear.
US officials said they had discussed with Russia possible guarantees for Ukraine similar to NATO’s Article 5 protection against attack. One official said a US guarantee was for Trump and Zelenskyy to discuss and could involve resources, funding and military support. In a 5 November interview, Zelenskyy said guarantees should specify what Western allies would do, with what means and when, if Russia invaded again; the Kremlin insists a prospective deal must also guarantee Russia’s security.
TASS had reported that the talks would address a post-conflict continental security system, including mechanisms to prevent threats and strengthen regional stability.
Officials from Britain, France, Germany and Italy, along with NATO and EU officials, traveled to Abu Dhabi for meetings on the sidelines. Before the opening session, Ukrainian delegates and US mediators met European and NATO representatives to align positions and coordinate steps, Umerov said. British national security adviser Jonathan Powell attended a meeting with European, Ukrainian and US delegations.
Zelenskyy welcomed Europe’s involvement in the process. Its representatives met separately from the trilateral talks. A German government spokesperson said European, US and Ukrainian officials reached an understanding on broad principles that would inform further talks; Russia was not part of that understanding.
Witkoff said the preparatory meeting coordinated efforts toward a durable peace and robust guarantees for Ukraine. He said participants discussed mechanisms to manage risk and avoid escalation and emphasized sovereignty, territorial integrity and independent decision-making. A joint statement said future arrangements must respect those principles and provide credible guarantees for Ukraine. Politico reported that the US and EU had agreed to examine a new European security structure after the war.
Before the talks, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said European representatives, including France, the UK and Germany, would be in the meeting room. The Kremlin rejected a European role in the trilateral session; the Guardian reported that Europeans were excluded at Russia’s insistence. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the talks as trilateral and said US and Ukrainian negotiators had their own European channels and were apparently building a coordination mechanism. He acknowledged that Europeans would eventually be needed in broader security talks.
Peskov said Russia’s delegation had not been in contact with European representatives in Abu Dhabi and none was planned; he said Putin was being briefed constantly. Before the round, whether the Europeans would meet Russians face to face had been unclear. Zelenskyy had sought European involvement, while Russia suggested Europeans would have no place at the table.
Before the round, von der Leyen said after speaking with Zelenskyy that the EU would be present alongside its partners; a European Council spokesperson also confirmed EU participation. Commission and Council officials were to go to the talks. The planned EU team leaders were von der Leyen’s chief of cabinet Bjoern Seibert and Anna-Maria Boura, chief foreign policy adviser to European Council President António Costa.
An EU official had told AFP that security officials from the EU, NATO, France, Germany and the UK would be on site, though their role was unclear. The Financial Times had reported that those countries' national security advisers and the chiefs of staff to von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte would take part in sections of the negotiations. The talks had been framed as an officials-level rather than leaders' meeting.
Kushner said the US, Ukraine and European partners had aligned on proposals to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He hopes Putin will approve including Europeans in an expanded negotiating format. Medinsky questioned what Russia and the European Union would discuss, citing what he said was a lack of European proposals.
Before the round, Kushner said Washington would consult European partners on the sidelines and, if progress were made, seek a broader format with their direct participation. A US official said Washington would propose such a format but still needed Russia’s agreement. Kushner had cautioned that the talks could at most build momentum toward the next phase. Ukraine and France welcomed US efforts to revive negotiations, saying localized truces were intended as a first step toward a complete and unconditional ceasefire.
Kushner and fellow US envoy Steve Witkoff are scheduled to meet Putin in Moscow, then Zelenskyy in Dublin, on 12 November. European partners are also expected at the Dublin meeting. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin would meet the envoys soon but did not confirm the day.
Kushner said the Moscow meeting would review the Abu Dhabi discussions and seek progress, while the Dublin meeting would debrief Zelenskyy and explore ideas raised in the talks. He said he hoped to finalize humanitarian relief and what he called the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners in Moscow. Zelenskyy is due in Dublin for the European Political Community summit alongside EU leaders.
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