Russia and Ukraine agree to major prisoner swap as peace talks end

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will separately meet Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday as they seek to seize "openings" from two days of talks in Abu Dhabi on ending the Ukraine war.

The two men will travel first to Moscow to meet the Russian president, before flying to Dublin – where Zelensky will attend European meetings – to debrief the Ukrainian leader.

Arriving in Ireland, Zelensky said there could be a "window of opportunity" to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II before 2027.

"What's important is that the Americans flew to Putin with specifics. I would very much like them to return to Dublin with specifics," he said, adding that, while he was still sceptical, "there is hope".

He also welcomed what he called "change in tone" from the US on the prospect of Europe's inclusion in the Washington-mediated talks, saying the "American side is treating it more positively, more warmly."

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European countries have been rattled by Russia pushing a review of the entire continent's security architecture, with the US also floating a new framework.

Moscow's chief negotiator said Wednesday the Kremlin aimed for a "new, modern Yalta" – referring to the 1945 conference in which Western leaders carved up Europe with the Soviet Union.

Some 50 European leaders are due to gather in the Irish capital Thursday, with the Abu Dhabi talks set to dominate the summit.

EU officials say there appears to have been little genuine progress towards peace and are adamant that Europe sees no need to discuss its broader security arrangement with Moscow before fighting stops.

NATO chief Mark Rutte however said Wednesday that the Abu Dhabi talks showed the US, Ukraine and Europe were "aligned and united".

'Biggest' prisoner exchange

Zelensky and the US have called on Europe to choose who will represent it at the talks – but European officials said they did not expect the leaders to take any decisions on naming a single envoy for any potential talks with the Kremlin.

After two days of talks in Abu Dhabi, the warring sides had agreed to a major prisoner exchange – the "biggest" ever, according to Kushner – though no side gave any figures.

Zelensky said Kyiv was waiting for a response from Moscow on a possible POW exchange that could be "1,000 for 1,000, maybe it will even come to 1,200".

He also said the parties went into "much greater detail" on the issue of security guarantees.

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Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said the talks had been tough, with Russia's delegation arriving with "strict directives", but they produced "good momentum" towards reaching a solution before the end of the ⁠year.

Kushner said the meeting with Putin would "go over what was discussed" in Abu Dhabi and to "try to make more progress on some of the issues that we discussed because we see some openings and some opportunities".

With Zelensky, the pair will "further explore some of the ideas that we came up with here today".

'New Yalta'

Kyiv's main negotiator Umerov said that there was "still a lot of difficult work ahead, but there are opportunities to continue the negotiation process".

Russia's delegation chief Vladimir Medinsky told reporters the "discussion will certainly continue".

But he questioned including Europe in the talks.

"We don't really understand what there is to talk about with them. We have not received a single peace initiative, not one concrete proposal from the European countries," he said.

Medinsky later told Russian TV that Moscow's aim is a "new, modern Yalta".

Ukraine has warned against just that.

Kushner said seeking ways to "get the Europeans added to the format" would be on the agenda with Putin.

Officials from Britain, France, Germany and Italy, as well as NATO and the European Union travelled to Abu Dhabi for meetings on the sidelines.

Five years of war

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Millions more have fled the fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine, large swathes of which have been destroyed by relentless aerial bombardments.

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Russia is demanding Ukraine withdraw from parts of eastern Ukraine it still controls and wants a sweeping deal on "Europe's security architecture".

That is widely seen as a reference to Moscow's long-standing demands to push back the NATO military alliance in eastern Europe and end Western military support to Kyiv.

Kyiv says a ceasefire must come before any discussions on territory and has called for a direct meeting between Zelensky and Putin to discuss the biggest issues.