Ukraine Peace Talks Yield Prisoner Deal but No Path to Peace

Detailed summary

US-mediated negotiations between Russia and Ukraine yielded a preliminary prisoner exchange agreement but failed to resolve fundamental disagreements over territory and security guarantees.

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The first trilateral negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and the US since early this year produced a measured humanitarian breakthrough, but little tangible progress toward ending the war.

The two days of talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10 -11 reached an agreement in principle on a large-scale prisoner exchange and opened discussions on broader European security arrangements.

But the sides appear to be no closer to peace than they were 48 hours earlier.

"The fundamental obstacle to ending this war is that neither belligerent currently sees an available peace settlement that would secure its essential interests at a lower cost than continuing to fight," according to Slawomir Debski, visiting professor of strategy and international relations at the Warsaw-based College of Europe in Natolin.

US officials described the negotiations as tough but productive, while acknowledging the total lack of trust between Kyiv and Moscow.

The talks, nevertheless, marked an important development: Washington is seeking to broaden negotiations beyond Ukraine's future to include wider security arrangements for Europe, potentially bringing European governments into a process from which they have so far largely been excluded.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due to travel to Moscow on November 12 to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before heading to Dublin for discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is currently on a visit to Ireland.

Those meetings will test whether Washington can turn diplomatic activity into meaningful progress or whether Moscow is using negotiations to advance broader strategic objectives while continuing its war.

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