Nine months without direct contact had left the peace process stalled. On Tuesday and Wednesday, however, the Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, with Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Expectations were low, and so was the outcome: the two sides agreed only in principle on a large exchange of prisoners of war, the details of which have not been made public. Jared Kushner describes it as the largest such exchange since the conflict began.
On substance, nothing moved. A ceasefire, the fate of the territories and security guarantees still divide the two parties. Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky promised to continue talks with Kyiv, while saying he saw no reason to meet the Europeans.
The two American envoys then flew to Moscow on Thursday. Received by Vladimir Putin for about two hours, they sought in particular his consent to bring European representatives into the talks. The Russian president thanked them and confirmed progress on prisoners, without going into detail. According to Jared Kushner, the delegations agree on many principles but still differ on how to achieve them. Moscow maintains its territorial demands and rejects any presence of foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine.
That same evening, they headed for Ireland. At Casement Aerodrome near Dublin, Volodymyr Zelensky, in the country for the European Political Community summit, spent nearly an hour with the Americans. After the meeting, he announced that European partners would take part in the next round of negotiations, a long-standing demand of Kyiv. « We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table, » Jared Kushner said. Europeans still have to decide who will represent them, a question on the agenda of the Dublin summit this Friday.
Not everything is settled. Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin’s foreign policy adviser, confirmed that the three-way format with Washington and Kyiv would continue, but appeared to play down European participation. Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, welcomed the prisoner exchange while repeating that Ukraine will not give up occupied territory in exchange for peace.
The fighting has not stopped. Ukrainian long-range drones reached the Ust-Luga oil terminal on Russia’s Baltic coast, starting a fire and injuring three workers, according to the regional governor.