Kushner announces largest prisoner swap of the war between Russia and Ukraine

Kushner announced the preparations in a post on X after three days of talks. He said that after consultations with the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi, the American side held a direct dialogue with Vladimir Putin in Moscow and then met with Volodymyr Zelensky in Dublin.

"We are working on the largest prisoner exchange since the start of the war, which could potentially reunite thousands of people with their families," Kushner said. He also said the day ended with consultations with national security advisers from Ukraine, Germany, Italy, the EU, France, Ireland and Poland.

Steve Witkoff, the US president's special envoy, said after meeting Putin that the Russian side had agreed to the exchange. "The Russians have now agreed to the largest prisoner exchange in the history [of this war]. It will happen in the near future," he said.

Zelensky, after contacts with Kushner and Witkoff in Dublin, called the upcoming exchange a "real result" of the talks. According to him, the American side, following Russia, confirmed that the prisoner-of-war exchange would take place.

On 10 November, the Ukrainian leader noted that a possible exchange in the format of "1000 for 1000" or "1500 for 1500" was discussed at the talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi. The last round of exchanges took place on 23 October under the formula "270 for 270".

Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian president, called the exchange of views with the American representatives "very substantive, constructive and useful". According to him, the parties agreed to continue the Abu Dhabi negotiating track.

Kushner also said that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to involve European countries in the next round of talks. According to him, this will make it possible to work on broader security agreements in Europe after the conflict ends, along with territorial issues.

The schedule of the talks and the details of the exchange, according to Kushner, will be announced in the near future. Washington, he added, is encouraged by the progress achieved, but significant disagreements remain.