Russian and Ukrainian negotiators return to the table in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for a second day of United States mediated talks, the first such meeting in more than nine months. The delegations met for about four hours on Tuesday, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the talks constructive and said a large prisoner exchange of more than a thousand people was discussed, with officials reporting no formal result.
Why it matters
The talks are the first three way round since February, and they come as Washington renews its push to end a war that has dragged on for 56 months. United States special envoy Steve Witkoff announced the meeting, and the American side also met European officials separately. Zelenskyy said he hopes the adviser level talks lead to a three way meeting of leaders that includes Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The backdrop is a war that keeps widening even as diplomats talk. Russian strikes on Ukraine energy network cut power to hundreds of thousands of people on Sunday, Ukrainian drones have cut Russian refining capacity by about 30 percent since late October, and a drone attack caused a fire at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga on Wednesday. Both sides are negotiating while still striking.
What happens next
The prisoner exchange is the most concrete item on the table, and it is the kind of deal that can build trust if it happens. A swap of more than a thousand people would be one of the largest of the war, and it would give both governments something to show their publics while the harder questions of territory and security guarantees remain untouched.
What happens next will be decided in the second day of talks and in what follows them. If the negotiators leave Abu Dhabi with a swap agreed and a leaders meeting in view, the push will look real. If they leave with only a promise to meet again, the war will go on as before, and the next test will be whether Washington can keep both sides at the table. If the talks fail, the war enters its 57th month with no end in sight.
