Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi bring progress on prisoners but not on peace

US envoys to visit Moscow and Dublin on Thursday for talks with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy respectively

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to the “largest prisoner exchange” of the war at their first US-brokered talks since February but made little progress towards a broader peace agreement.

Both sides sent senior delegations to the two-day talks, led by Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, in an effort to find a solution to end the nearly-five-year war.

David Arakhamia, a senior member of Ukraine’s delegation, said the Russian team had arrived with “very, very strict directives”, making it difficult to narrow differences. But he said there had been “really big progress” on security guarantees for Ukraine after the war.