Ukraine and Russia agree to large-scale prisoner exchange after second day of talks

Ukraine and Russia agreed to a prisoner swap during talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, according to reports. The US-brokered negotiations are the first to take place since February, when Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu launched an offensive against Iran, derailing progress on a potential ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow. A large-scale prisoner swap has also been agreed during the discussions and may take place between the next two to three weeks, according to Russian news agency TASS citing Russian Lieutenant-General Alexander Zorin. Zorin said that the exchange would consist of more than 1,000 prisoners on each side. After the first day of talks US secretary of state Marco Rubio said that “a lot” of work was still to be done. Witkoff and Kushner held talks with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Abu Dhabi (AP)Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said that mutual understanding had been achieved on some issues but that more talks are yet to be held to iron out differences. It follows claims by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that the US agreed with Ukraine’s assessment of what was happening on the battlefield and that Vladimir Putin lived in a “different reality”.The Ukrainian leader said Russia had claimed that it held half of the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east.“Putin lives in a different reality,” Zelensky said. “I can draw a picture for him too where I fully occupy Russia. But it’s not true.”However, he added that the second day of talks was “constructive and quite substantive”. The discussions are the first of their kind in nine months as the US has been occupied with the conflict in Iran. Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv met for the two-day talks on Tuesday and Wednesday. Zelensky said progress had been made (Ritzau Scanpix)Washington was represented by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law and businessman Jared Kushner. The talks are reported to have lasted four hours. Last week, Mariana Katzarova, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Russia, said that at least 438 Ukrainians have died in Russian captivity and that torture and ill-treatment of prisoners is systematic. The United Nations estimates that around 16,000 Ukrainian citizens are being held in Russian captivity. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in February earlier this year, Zelensky said that around 7,000 Ukrainians were being held in Russian captivity and 4,000 Russians in Ukrainian detention. More than 95 per cent of the Ukrainian prisoners of war and 85 per cent of the civilian detainees reported being tortured or ill-treated, often repeatedly, according to UN officials. Past talks between Russia and Ukraine have yielded little progress with key sticking points including territory and security guarantees.