Russia and Ukraine Agree Prisoner Swap in Abu Dhabi Talks

Russian and Ukrainian officials agreed on a large-scale prisoner exchange at talks in Abu Dhabi that ended on November 11, 2026, but the two sides made no breakthrough toward ending the war between them, according to Al Jazeera.

The talks lasted two days and were the first between the two sides since February 2026. The United States mediated them, acting as a go-between for both delegations.

Russia's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said in Abu Dhabi that the two countries had agreed on the swap. US envoy Jared Kushner said the number of prisoners to be exchanged would be finalised on Thursday, November 12. A prisoner exchange involves each side releasing people it is holding, and the same kind of arrangement was carried out earlier this year. In March 2026, Ukraine and Russia each freed 200 prisoners of war after talks in Geneva held the previous month.

The agreement did not resolve the wider conflict. Kushner and US special envoy Steve Witkoff planned to travel to Moscow to brief Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Abu Dhabi talks. They also planned to fly to Dublin afterwards to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Medinsky said more Russia-Ukraine talks would be held in the near future, and that Moscow was not opposed to the participation of the European Union, the bloc of European countries. Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said the Abu Dhabi talks had created good momentum toward a solution before the end of 2026. He said the next round should be multilateral, with European representation.