US envoys to meet Putin after Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi

Detailed summary

Russia and Ukraine agreed on a major prisoner exchange - the "biggest" ever according to US envoy Jared Kushner, though no side gave any figures.

Russia and Ukraine agreed on a major prisoner exchange - the "biggest" ever according to US envoy Jared Kushner, though no side gave any figures.

ABU DHABI: American envoys will travel to Moscow on Thursday (Nov 12) to meet President Vladimir Putin after two days of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators on their almost five-year war.

The countries agreed on a major prisoner exchange - the "biggest" ever according to US envoy Jared Kushner, though no side gave any figures. But the two sides remain split over the role Europe should play in future talks.

Though little else of substance emerged from the talks in Abu Dhabi - the first since February, when the US war in Iran halted diplomacy - all sides talked up progress at the meeting and said talks would continue.

After visiting Moscow, Kushner and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Dublin - which hosts European summits this week - to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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

With Zelenskyy, the pair will "further explore some of the ideas that we came up with here today", he told reporters after two days of talks.

Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said he saw "good momentum" after the discussions, but there were "issues that we cannot disclose at the moment".

While Russia continued deadly attacks in Ukraine during the talks, its lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky told reporters the "discussion will certainly continue".

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