ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Ukraine and Russia have agreed in principle to the largest prisoner exchange of the war, Jared Kushner said on Wednesday, calling the deal a humanitarian breakthrough after two days of talks in Abu Dhabi.
Families will be reunited by the exchange, he wrote. In his telling, it should also start to build trust — and give the peace effort some momentum.
News of the deal came as the talks ended, with Ukraine’s Rustem Umerov and Russia’s Vladimir Medinsky confirming a large prisoner exchange had been agreed. How many prisoners, and when they will go home, was not announced. The numbers, Kushner said during the talks, will be finalized Thursday.
First trilateral talks since February
Bringing the two countries back together mattered in itself, Kushner said. It was the first time the three sides had met since February. Kushner called the discussions serious, detailed and frank.
Each side had brought its own proposals, he wrote, aimed at closing the differences and finding a way out of the war. The talks lasted four and a half hours on Tuesday and around two hours on Wednesday.
“Significant differences remain, but we are committed to building on the progress made and advancing toward broader multilateral negotiations that can deliver lasting peace and a sovereign, secure, and prosperous Ukraine.”
Proposals go to Moscow next
Kushner said the United States, in close coordination with Ukraine and its European partners, has aligned on proposals that the U.S. team will discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow tomorrow. Consultations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will follow.
At the close of the talks the next steps were already set: Kushner and fellow U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff meet Putin in Moscow on Thursday, then go on to Dublin to brief Zelenskyy. President Donald Trump, Kushner wrote, is determined to end the war.
Plenty still separates the two sides. Control of territory in eastern Ukraine, above all the Donetsk region, remains a central sticking point, and the fighting did not pause for the talks — Russian strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region and Kharkiv overnight wounded seven civilians, The Associated Press reported.