Ukraine, Russia and the US concluded the second round of trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, with Moscow agreeing to restart prisoner of war exchanges, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Zelensky said that while peace was still proving to be elusive, there was at least a consensus reached on the POWs as both meditators are set for the third round of talks on Thursday.
“There will also be a significant step: we expect an exchange of prisoners of war in the near future. The prisoners must be returned home,” Zelensky said in a briefing.
The agreement comes just a week after the Ukrainian president accused Moscow of halting the POW exchanges because it allegedly wasn’t worth the effort.
“They do not feel that it gives them anything. They believe that it gives us something. But I think they should also think about their people, their military,” Zelensky said at the time.
The last POW exchange between Russia and Ukraine occurred on Oct. 2, when both sides swapped 185 soldiers, with Moscow releasing an additional 20 civilians.
Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, described Wednesday’s peace talks as “substantive and productive.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the progress, noting that the talks were the first time in a long time that both Ukraine and Russia have sent technical-military teams to such forums.
The most sensitive issue at hand continues to be Russia’s demand for land, with Moscow maintaining that Kyiv fully surrender the Zaporizhzhia power station, Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
Russia also wants Kyiv to withdraw all its troops from the fortified Donetsk defense belt region as a precondition to any deal.
Ukraine has slammed the demands, with Zelensky ordering his negotiators to adjust their position as Russia continues to bombarded Ukraine.
Shortly after the talks began early Wednesday, Russian forces hit a crowded market in eastern Ukraine, killing at least seven people and leaving another 15 wounded, Donetsk region’s Governor Vadym Filashkin said.
The attacks come following another major assault on Ukraine’s energy grid, with Moscow firing more than 500 drones and missiles across five different regions on Tuesday.
“There should be no rewards for the aggressor,” Zelensky said during Wednesday’s briefing. “If there are any rewards for the aggressor, Russia will eventually break any agreement.”
With Post wires
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