Zelensky announces preparation of the largest prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia

Largest prisoner exchange and Europe's role in the talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that the prisoner exchange agreed with the Russian side would be the largest in the entire course of the war. According to him, this is a 'real result' of the ongoing negotiations. The statement came after meetings in Dublin with Steve Witkoff, special envoy of US President Donald Trump, and special envoy Jared Kushner, Anadolu reports. 'This will be the biggest exchange of prisoners of war... This is a real result. It is very important,' the outlet quotes the Ukrainian leader.

Context of the negotiation process

Zelensky linked the progress to the talks in Abu Dhabi, in which the United States acted as mediator; the latest meeting, he said, gave 'hope' for an end to the war. He expects further rounds and stressed that each of them must produce concrete results. Separately, he said that in the next round European representatives would take part as members of the negotiating team rather than as a separate delegation: 'They will have a voice. This is important for us, because the war is taking place in Europe, and we will become an EU member in the future.' The same day, according to Anadolu, Russian President Vladimir Putin received Witkoff and Kushner in Moscow — a day after the conclusion of the talks in Abu Dhabi.

What is known and what remains undisclosed

The publication contains neither the number of people to be exchanged nor the date of the exchange — these details are not disclosed in Zelensky's statement. It also remains unclear what the agreements reached in Abu Dhabi contain and what the agenda of the Moscow meeting was. So far, only the Russian side's consent to the exchange itself and the change in the format of Europe's participation in the next round have been confirmed.