Russia and Ukraine have agreed to hold another “large-scale” prisoner swap after concluding the final day of their latest peace talks in Abu Dhabi, chief Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said Wednesday, as the Trump administration renews its push to mediate a deal that would bring an end to Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
Vladimir Medinsky, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin, told reporters that details of the swap would be announced shortly. Ukrainian officials had not yet confirmed the agreement.
Delegates from Russia and Ukraine wrapped up their second and final day of discussions on Wednesday in a session lasting under two hours. White House special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner continued their role as key mediators in the talks, which mark the first trilateral meeting since the outbreak of the U.S. Israel war against Iran in February.
Medinsky described post-war security arrangements for Ukraine and the broader European continent as a central focus of the two-day summit. “In some places we reached an understanding, in other places we did not,” he said, without elaborating further.
He also dismissed European officials who held separate discussions with the Ukrainian delegation in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, with another meeting expected for Wednesday.
“We don’t understand what status they have here... we don’t understand where we can agree with them on anything,” Medinsky said, arguing that Europe's military support for Ukraine prevented it from being a serious participant in peace talks.
While praising Witkoff and Kushner for their diplomatic efforts, Medinsky insisted that European nations could only become “full-fledged” partners in the peace process when their “conscience awakens,” accusing them of complicity in alleged Ukrainian war crimes.
Earlier, the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin was being provided with regular updates about the progress of this week’s talks.
On Tuesday, Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, described the first day of the latest round of peace talks as “constructive.”
“We are working to end this devastating war and establish the security arrangements necessary for a sovereign, secure and prosperous Ukraine and lasting peace across Europe,” Kushner wrote in a post on X.
The focus of this week’s talks on developing a post-war security framework for Ukraine and Europe more broadly sets them apart from previous rounds of negotiations, which centered on issues more directly related to the war and territorial disagreements between Moscow and Kyiv.
U.S. officials told the Financial Times that they are looking to resolve the Ukraine war and broader security arrangements for the continent in tandem, but emphasized that European officials should have a seat at the table, something that Moscow has so far rejected.
This is a developing story. Please come back later for more details.
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