U.S.-led talks end with first Ukraine-Russia prisoner swap in months as state media signals new demands from Moscow

A second day of trilateral talks aimed at ending Russia’s war against Ukraine concluded in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. The meeting, which involved representatives from Washington, Moscow, and Kyiv, marked the latest round of discussions in the Trump administration’s year-long push to broker a lasting truce.

Following Thursday’s talks, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to exchange 314 prisoners — the first such swap in five months. “This outcome was achieved from peace talks that have been detailed and productive,” he wrote on X. “Discussions will continue, with additional progress anticipated in the coming weeks.”

Speaking briefly to the press, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, described the talks as “constructive” and thanked the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates for their mediation.

President Volodymyr Zelensky later confirmed that 157 Ukrainians returned home on Thursday as part of a prisoner swap. According to media reports, there were 150 soldiers and seven civilians among those released from Russian captivity. Budanov later said the exchange included 15 Ukrainians who had been sentenced to life in prison in Russia, as well as several defenders of Mariupol.

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Details of this week’s talks remain scarce. In a readout posted on X, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov said the delegations “had wide-ranging discussions on the remaining open issues,” including ways to implement and monitor a potential ceasefire. He also said the delegations plan to continue trilateral discussions “in the coming weeks.”

“In general terms, the discussions concerned economic issues, the territorial question, and a ceasefire mechanism,” an unnamed source told Russia’s state news agency TASS earlier in the day.

Citing a “Western source in Abu Dhabi,” TASS also reported that Moscow wants any comprehensive agreement to include formal international recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over Ukraine’s Donbas, a territory that includes the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. “For the Russian side, recognition of Donbas by all countries is seen as extremely important,” the source said.

The same source suggested that security guarantees for Ukraine could include provisions for a “multi-national rapid response force” instead of a peacekeeping delegation. “Peacekeepers don’t suit everyone,” this person said.

At a summit in Paris in January, Kyiv’s “Coalition of the Willing” allies signed a declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine, which included plans to set up a ceasefire monitoring mechanism. The U.K. and France also signed a separate declaration with Ukraine, on the intent to deploy forces to the country in the event of a peace deal. However, Russia has consistently rejected the idea of Kyiv’s allies deploying peacekeepers in Ukraine.

Until now, there had been no reports that Moscow was demanding global recognition of its sovereignty over Donbas. President Donald Trump has previously suggested that the United States might be willing to recognize territorial changes, but there is no indication that Ukraine or its European allies are willing to do so.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday, Zelensky dismissed the idea outright, maintaining that Ukraine will not cede sovereignty or territory to Russia. “Even if someone were to recognize our territories as Russian, it would change nothing,” he said. “Our territories are ours, even though they are currently under temporary occupation.”